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WILLIAM JUDSON HAMPTON 



OUR PRESIDENTS 

and 

THEIR MOTHERS 



BY 

William Judson Hampton, D. D. 

Author of 

"The Shrine Invisible," "Dodging the Commandments," etc. 

Grand Chaplain of the Grand Chapter, Royal Arch Masons 

of New Jersey 



INTRODUCTION BY THE 

HONORABLE WALTER E. EDGE 

Governor of the State of New Jersey 



THE ASTE PRESS 

67-69 SPRING STREET 

NEW YORK 

1918 



Copyright, 1918, 
By William Judson Hampton. 



APR -8 1918 
A49451Q 



To my dear Mother, 
Susanna Baldwin Hampton. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Introduction — by Governor Edge 5 

"Gems" 7 

Mothers of the Presidents 9 

Mary Ball — Washington, George Washington.. 17 
Jane Randolph — Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson ... 25 

Nellie Conway — Madison, James Madison 27 

Abigail Smith — Adams, John Ouincy Adams. ... 28 
Elizabeth Hutchinson — Jackson, Andrew Jackson 32 
Elizabeth Speer — Buchanan, James Buchanan. . . 35 

Nancy Hanks — Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln 39 

Mary McDonough — Johnson, Andrew Johnson.. 44 

Hannah Simpson — Grant, Ulysses S. Grant 48 

Sophia Birchard — Hayes, Rutherford B. Hayes.. 53 

Eliza Ballou — Garfield, James A. Garfield 57 

Anne Neale — Cleveland, Grover Cleveland 62 

Elizabeth Irwin — Harrison, Benjamin Harrison.. 65 
Nancy Allison — McKinley, William McKinley.. 71 
Martha Bullock — Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt 80 
Louise M. Torrey— Taft, William Howard Taft.. 84 
Janet Woodrow — Wilson, Woodrow Wilson .... 88 



INTRODUCTION. 



By his Excellency, 
Governor Walter E. Edge. 

This interesting volume will find its way straight 
to the hearts of those fortunate enough to have ex- 
perienced the deathless devotion and unerring guid- 
ance of a mother's love. It will rekindle tender 
sentiments that perhaps have merely smouldered un- 
der the heavy weight of life's dull cares and every- 
day, matter-of-fact affairs. It should serve as an in- 
spiration toward a reconciliation with the whole- 
some rules of living first uttered at the cradle and 
later understood in the play-room. Finally, it must 
throw a penetrating light on the reasons for the 
greatness of the Great, uncovering those wholesome 
influences that make possible the carving of truly 
eminent characters, through shaping early impres- 
sions. 

Not from motives of gratitude alone, but as a mat- 
ter of historical accuracy, most of our American 
statesmen freely admit that many of their personal 
characteristics which the world terms worth while 
constituted the love-given legacy of an idolizing 
mother. What compassion and gentleness she 



taught! What patience and fortitude and other 
foundation stones of a creditable career! How she 
early marshalled the forces of common sense and 
righteousness against all manner of moral weak- 
nesses! How she endured and forgave! How she 

loved ! 

* * * 

It seems to me that a work treating thus inti- 
mately with the mother influence upon great Ameri- 
cans is particularly appropriate at this time — now 
when hundreds of thousands of mothers throughout 
the land are making such heroic sacrifices and ex- 
hibiting such marked patriotism. "The hand that 
rocks the cradle" has ruled our Nation before, and 
rules it to-day. Then, as now, it was not autocratic 
rule. Then, as now, it was the inspiration of true 
Democracy and the course chiefly responsible for 
everything that we are and everything that we hope 
to be. Mothers — thank God for them, and may 
their sweetness and tenderness forever sway tempo- 
ral power. 

Walter E. Edge 



GEMS— WORDS THAT WILL LIVE FOR- 
EVER. 

"Her children rise up and call her blessed." — 

The Bible. 

* * * 

" 'The hand that rocks the cradle' has ruled our 
nation before, and rules it to-day. Then, as now, it 
was not autocratic rule. Then, as now, it was the 
inspiration of true Democracy, and the course chief- 
ly responsible for everything that we are, and every- 
thing that we hope to be. Mothers — thank God for 
them, and may their sweetness and tenderness for- 
ever sway temporal power." — Governor Walter E. 
Edge. 

"There is not a virtue that can abide in the female 
heart, but it was the ornament of hers. (His 

mother) The God of my father and 

mother shall be my God." — President John Quincy 
Adams. 

"Under Providence, I attribute any little distinc- 
tion which I may have acquired in the world to the 
blessing which He conferred upon me in granting me 
such a mother." — President James Buchanan. 

''All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel 
mother. Blessings on her memory." — President 
Abraham Lincoln. 



"How much American soldiers are indebted to 
good American mothers! When they go to the 
front, what prayers go with them; what tender testi- 
monials of affection are in their knapsacks!" — Presi- 
dent Ulysses S. Grant. 



"My mother is a great woman. All I am I owe 
to her." — President William McKinley. 



"My Mother was a sweet, gracious, beautiful 
Southern woman, a delightful companion, and be- 
loved by everybody." — President Theodore Roose- 
velt. 

* * * 

"It is very hard for me to speak of what my mother 
was without colouring the whole estimate with the 
deep love that fills my heart whenever I think of her. 

She was one of the most remarkable 

persons I ever knew." — President Woodrow Wil- 
son. 



MOTHERS OF THE PRESIDENTS. 

Practically nothing seems to be known, about the 
mothers of some of our earliest Presidents. We ap- 
pend below the name of the mother of each Presi- 
dent in order. 

PRESIDENTS MOTHERS 

George Washington ... Mary Ball 

John Adams Susanna Boylston 

Thomas Jefferson Jane Randolph 

James Madison Nellie Conway 

James Monroe Elizabeth Jones 

John Quincy Adams .... Abigail Smith 

Andrew Jackson Elizabeth Hutchinson 

Martin Van Buren Mary Hoes 

Wm. Hefiry Harrison .. .Elizabeth Bassett 

Johrt / TyN* Mary Armistead 

James K. Polk Jane Knox 

Zachery Taylor Sarah Strother 

Millard Fillmore Phebe Millard 

Franklin Pierce Anna Kendrick 

James Buchanan Elizabeth Speer 

Abraham Lincoln Nancy Hanks 

Andrew Johnson Mary McDonough 

Ulysses S. Grant Hannah Simpson 

Rutherford B. Hayes . . . .Sophia Birchard 

James A. Garfield Eliza Ballou 

Chester A. Arthur Malvina Stone 

Grover Cleveland Anne Neale 

Benjamin Harrison Elizabeth Findley Irwin 

William McKinley Nancy Allison 

Theodore Roosevelt .... Martha Bullock 
William Howard Taft . . . Louise M. Torrey 
Woodrow Wilson Janet Woodrow 



Our Presidents and Their Mothers 



A MOTHER who had raised seven noble sons, 
and not a black sheep among the number, was 
asked how she did it. She replied, "I raised them 
on prayer and hickory." Some might think that 
rather an incongruous mixture but possibly most 
folks on reflection would conclude that it was ab- 
solutely Scriptural. Solid piety and wholesome 
authority cannot be divorced. This does not mean 
that parental authority shall always manifest itself 
in the use of the rod. Charles M. Stuart, President 
of Garrett Biblical Institute, says he was raised on a 
farm, and his father frequently "raised" him with a 
hame strap. On the other hand President Ulysses 
S. Grant declares that he has no recollection of ever 
being punished at home, either by scolding or whip- 
ping, by either father or mother. Yet that home 
presided over by Hannah Simpson Grant, his mother, 
was not devoid of parental authority, only these 
parents had discovered an excellent substitute for 
"hickory." It is worthy of note, that the mothers 
of our Presidents have all been godly women. Whe- 
ther the rod was used much or little, in training their 
sons, there was no substitute for prayer. 

Some good angel must have been parent to the 
thought, of suggesting to the church the observance 
of Mothers' Day. The day may later become known 
as Parents' Day, but mothers will always have their 
innings. How the observance of such a day has help- 
ed to enshrine the memory of mother in many a 
heart! How it has helped iron out many a wrinkle 



14 OUR PRESIDENTS 

on mother's brow, by prompting to thoughtfulness, 
and stimulating the affections, of the children. Such 
added joy that has been produced, has been worth 
more to mothers than 10,000 belated flowers placed 
upon a costly casket containing her silent form. 

No boy makes a mistake in being good to his 
mother. God's blessing is assured to such, and even 
the cold selfish world that has not much to waste 
on sentimentalism, will say of such a boy, "Blessed." 
When the Democrats of Minnesota nominated 
John A. Johnson for Governor, a few years ago, there 
seemed little likelihood of his being elected, for the 
State was proverbially Republican. But his oppo- 
nent made the mistake of taunting him in public of 
being the son of a drunkard. Then Johnson's 
friends had to tell the story of his life. At 13, he 
made his mother stop taking in washing that he 
might support her. He had a struggle on his young 
shoulders, but he succeeded. When the people heard 
these things, Republicans and Democrats alike ex- 
claimed, "He is the man we want for Governor." 
He was easily elected, and died when but 48, saying 
to his devoted wife, "I have tried to fight a good 
fight." Had this man lived, he might have graced 
the Presidential chair, for he was strong in every 
way, and he bade fair to become a nation's idol. 

The history of our country could not be written 
without bringing in the names of many brave, heroic, 
and patriotic women, and this is no doubt true of 
other countries, as well as this. Written on the pas- 
senger list of the Mayflower, alongside the names 
of the Pilgrim Fathers, were the names of a number 
of women. Was that perilous trip easier for those 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 16 

women than for the men ? The very names of those 
19 wives and 7 daughters, on the passenger list of the 
Mayflower, seem to stand out in sublime grandeur. 
Not a man died for affixing his name to the Declara- 
tion of Independence, altho' every man took his life 
in his own hands, when he did that, and every man 
realized the significance of his act, should the patriot 
cause end in failure. But many a woman did die, 
because she heroically put her name to the passenger 
list of the Mayflower. Both meant battles with the 
direst kind of hardship. A beautiful tradition has 
come down to us from the day of the Mayflower. 
'The first foot that pressed the snow-clad surface of 
Plymouth Rock, Dec. 21, 1620, was that of the fair 
maiden Mary Chilton; and the last survivor of the 
Mayflower Pilgrim Company was Mary Allerton, 
who lived to see the planting of 12 out of the 13 
colonies, which formed the nucleus of the United 
States." 

Those who have studied the lives of our Presidents 
have made the claim that these men owed more to 
their mothers than to their fathers. Only eleven or 
twelve were reared under comfortable circumstances, 
the parents of all the others had more or less of a 
struggle. It has been said, that great men have had 
great mothers. Sir Henry Taylor once wrote, "The 
world knows nothing of its greatest men." He would 
have said a truer and a wiser thing, had he said, The 
world knows nothing of its greatest women. The 
greatness of the mothers of our Presidents, and the 
part they played in preparing sons for the Presi- 
dential chair has scarcely been hinted at by biograph- 
er or historian. Mrs. Pryor well says, in "The 



16 OUR PRESIDENTS 

Mother of Washington," 'The mothers of famous 
men survive only in their sons. This is a rule al- 
most as invariable as a law of nature. Whatever the 
aspirations and energies of the mothers, memorable 
achievement is not for her. No memoir has been 
written in this country of the women who bore, 
fostered, trained, our great men. What do we know 
of the mothers of Daniel Webster, or John Adams, 
or Patrick Henry, or Andrew Jackson, or the mo- 
thers of our Revolutionary heroes?" In many in- 
stances, if biographers or historians mention the 
name of the mothers of our Presidents, that is about 
all that is given, sometimes her family connections 
are added. Seven of the mothers of our Presidents 
were left widows. These mothers, left widows, to 
whom was trusted the supreme task of rearing 
sons who were destined to become the Presidents of* 
the United States, were Mrs. Washington, Mrs. Jef- 
ferson, Mrs. Jackson, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Hayes, 
Mrs. Garfield, and Mrs. Cleveland. 

In some instances the mothers had to struggle 
with abject poverty. Andrew Johnson's father died 
when he was four years old. His parents belonged 
to that class of people in the South, styled even by 
the negroes, 'The Poor Whites." Nobody among 
the "poor whites," in those days, considered an 
education necessary. Andrew Johnson, the "Tailor" 
President, never went to school a day in his life. No- 
body knows how Johnson's mother managed to eke 
out a livelihood from the time that Johnson was 
four years old, until he was ten, but the mother 
must have found some way. These widowed mo- 
thers were all good women, and of fine character. 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 17 

Every mother, about whom we are to read in these 
pages, was a woman of fine Christian character. This 
was her outstanding virtue. 



MARY BALL WASHINGTON. 

George Washington, 
First President of the United States, lySg-'gy. 

A pen picture of Mary Ball, the mother of Wash- 
ington, has been discovered in a letter which a Union 
soldier found in a bundle of old letters in an aban- 
doned house in Yorktown, at the close of the Civil 
War. Mary Ball was at that time 16 years old. The 
letter is dated at Williamsburg, 1722, and is publish- 
ed by Mrs. Pryor in her book, 'The Mother of 
Washington." 

''Dear Sukey — Madame Ball, of Lancaster, and her 
sweet Molly have gone Horn. Mama thinks Molly 
the Comliest Maiden she has known. She is about 
16 years old, is taller than Me, is very Sensible, 
Modest, and Loving. Her Hair is like unto Flax, her 
eyes are the color of Yours, and her Chekes are like 
May blossoms. I wish you could see her." 

Here we have flaxen hair. May blossoms, and a 
delightful suggestion of Virginia peach blossoms, 
and hedge roses! Sensible, modest, loving. What 
a delightful picture of a joyous girl, just blossoming 
into young womanhood. We are informed by her 
own descendants and the wisest historians, that no 
true picture of Mary Ball exists. In the home of 
her early married life, one that was genuine was burn- 



18 OUR PRESIDENTS 

ed. Yet certain pen pictures, which describe her, and 
which have been preserved by the historian, remain. 
Fiske writes, "If tradition is to be trusted, few sons 
ever had a more lovely and devoted mother, and no 
mother a more dutiful and affectionate son." A play- 
mate of George's early days, says, "Whoever has seen 
that inspiring air and manner, so characteristic in 
the Father of his Country, will remember the matron 
as she appeared when the presiding genius of her 
well ordered household, commanding and being 
obeyed." 

When Augustine Washington died in 1743, he was 
49 years of age. He left behind two sons by his first 
wife, and four sons, and a daughter by Mary Ball, 
his second wife. George was 10 years old at the 
time of his father's death. Most biographers have 
laid tremendous emphasis on the ancestry of Wash- 
ington, and the part that played in the making of 
this man; they have also spoken respectfully of his 
mother, but the part the mother played in his early 
education, was by far the major part. She had even 
more to do, with making him wise and good, and 
great, than the help he derived thro' the channel of 
books and schools. To this mother, Fiske declares, 
we owe the precepts and examples that governed her 
son's life. She taught him the excellent moral and 
religious maxims found in Sir Matthew Hale's Con- 
templations. This volume, with his mother's inscrip- 
tion on the fly-leaf, was among the treasures of his 
library. He, himself, ascribed to his mother's care, 
the origin of his fortune and fame. 

Mary Ball was not yet 36 years old at the time of 
her husband's death. She was now the owner of a 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 19 

great estate, and could easily have selected for her- 
self, a gay life socially. But as Goethe says, "She is 
the most excellent woman, who when her husband 
dies, becomes as a father to her children," and this 
was the part she elected to play. She survived her 
husband, his widow, 46 years. Mr. Custis, who 
often visited her in his childhood, pays her this 
beautiful tribute: "Bred in those domestic and inde- 
pendent habits which graced the Virginia matrons, 
in the old days of Virginia, this lady, by the death 
of her husband, became involved in the cares of a 
young family at a period when those cares seem 
more especially to claim the aid, and control of the 
stronger sex. It was left for this eminent woman, 
by a method the most rare, by an education and 
discipline the most peculiar and imposing, to form 
in the youth-time of her son, those great and essen- 
tial qualities, which gave lustre to the glories of his 
after life. If the school savored the more of the 
Spartan than the Persian character, it was a fitter 
school to form a hero. Destined to be the ornament 
of the age in which he flourished, and a standard of 
excellence for ages to come." 

"The home of Mrs. Washington, of which she was 
Mistress, was a pattern of order. There the levity 
and indulgences common to youth, were tempered 
by a deference and well-regulated restraint, which, 
while it neither suppressed nor condemned any ra- 
tional enjoyment, used in the springtime of life, pre- 
scribed those enjoyments, within the bounds of mo- 
deration and propriety. Thus the chief was taught 
the duty of obedience, which prepared him to com- 
mand. Still the mother held in reserve an authority 



20 OUR PRESIDENTS 

which never departed from her even when her son 
had become the most illustrious of men. It seem- 
ed to say, I am your mother, the being who gave 
you life, the guide who directed your steps, when 
they needed a guardian; my maternal affection drew 
forth your love; my authority constrained your spirit, 
whatever may be your success, or your renown, next 
to your God, your reverence is due me! Nor did the 
chief dissent from the truths, but to the last mom- 
ents of his venerable parent, yielded to her will the 
most dutiful and implicit obedience, and felt for her 
person and character, the highest respect, and the 
most enthusiastic attachment. 

Such were the domestic influences, under which 
the mind of Washington was formed: and that he not 
only profited by, but fully appreciated their excel- 
lence, and the character of his mother, his behaviour 
toward her at all times testified." (The Life of Wash- 
ington, Mrs. Pryor.) 

The thoughtfulness of Washington toward his 
mother has become proverbial. Had he shown dis- 
regard for his mother's wishes, had he trampled 
upon her affections, his own career might have been 
radically different from what it was, as well as the en- 
tire history of our country. When Washington was 
14, he determined to enlist in the Navy as midship- 
man. A berth had been procured on a British man- 
of-war. His trunk had been sent aboard. He came to 
the house to bid his mother good-bye, and found her 
in tears. Her distress over his going was so great 
that he changed his mind and remained at home. 
His mother was sorry for his disappointment, but un- 
doubtedly that change altered his entire career in 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 21 

after life. Who can tell what the outcome of the 
American Revolution would have been, had there 
been any other man at the front than George Wash- 
ington? A son's regard for his mother's wishes, 
seems like a mighty small hinge on which the destiny 
of a nation shall swing, but in this instance we can 
do nothing less than reckon with it. Had he turned 
a deaf ear to the expostulations of his mother, the 
Capitol yonder might have had another name, as 
well as one of our States, several countries, and 
rivers, and innumerable small towns, and almost 
countless children. 

Mary Ball was a Christian. The Bible was her 
constant companion. It was her custom to have 
family prayers every morning and evening, the serv- 
ants of the household being present. Mr. Custis 
says, "She was always pious, but in her latter days, 
her devotions were performed in private. She was 
in the habit of repairing every day to a secluded spot 
formed by rocks and trees, near her dwelling, where 
abstracted from the world, and worldly things, she 
communed in humiliation and prayer with her 
Creator." 

When her son was about to leave her side, to en- 
gage in perilous fighting on the frontier, she laid 
her hand on his shoulder and devoutly said, "God is 
our sure trust; to Him I commend you." Washing- 
ton never forgot those words. When he accepted a 
position on General Braddock's staff, he said to his 
mother, "The God, to whom you commended me, 
when I set out on a most perilous errand, defended 
me from all harm, and will do so again." When the 
news of Braddock's defeat reached Fredericksburg, 



22 OUR PRESIDENTS 

the mother was forced to wait 12 days before she 
could be assured of his safety When finally a letter 
from him reached her, he told of his wonderful escape, 
with four bullets shot thro' his coat, and two horses 
shot under him. How can we separate this miracu- 
lous escape from the sublime devotion and prayers of 
this godly mother? 

When Washington's father was dying, he kissed 
his children in turn, and said, "Be good to your 
mother." Washington, in after years, said he faith- 
fully had kept the promise he had made his dying 
father, when he knelt crying at his bedside, and 
that the mother also believed that her son had kept 
the promise, is evidenced also in her favorite re- 
mark, "George had always been a good son." 

Washington's last act on his way North to be in- 
augurated President of the United States, was to 
turn aside to visit his aged mother who was living 
at Fredericksburg. "After embracing her, he told 
her of his election to the office of President, and 
added that before he entered upon his duties, he 
had come to bid her an affectionate farewell. 'So 
soon,' said he, 'as public business which must neces- 
sarily be encountered in forming a new Govern- 
ment, can be dispensed with, I shall hasten back.' 
'You will see me no more,' she mournfully replied, 
'My great age, and the disease, which is rapidly ap- 
proaching my vitals, warns me, that I shall not be 
long in this world. But you, George, fulfill the 
highest destinies, which heaven has assigned you. 
Go, my son, and may heaven's blessing be with you 
always.' Overcome by the solemnity of her man- 
ner, and the declaration, which he knew to be true, 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 23 

he leaned his head on her aged shoulders and wept. 
That great giant heart, which made him so terrible 
on the battlefield, was yet full of tenderest affec- 
tions, and chinging still to that dear parent, whose 
love for him was unfailing as the ocean tide, he 
wept like a child, when told that he should see her 
face no more. Not when on the disastrous field, he 
stops and gathers around him, by his majestic bear- 
ing, the broken fragments of his army, nor when 
he stands at the head of the Republic, which he 
had saved, does he appear so great, so worthy the 
affections of men, as here when he leans and weeps 
on the shoulder of his mother." This proved to be 
the last time Washington saw his mother. 

At Fredericksburg stands a monument erected 
to the memory of Mary Ball Washington. It is the 
only monument erected to the memory of a woman 
by the women of America. The monument was 
dedicated by President Cleveland, May 10, 1894. 
The oration, at the unveiling was delivered by 
Senator Daniels. No more appropriate words could 
be found with which to close this section than the 
words of the Senator on this occasion. "She nursed 
a hero at her breast. At her knee, she trained to 
the love and fear of God, and to the kingly virtues, 
honor, truth and valor, the lion of the tribe, that 
gave to America, liberty and independence. This 
her title to renown. It is enough. Eternal dignity, 
and heavenly grace, dwell upon the brow of this 
blessed mother; nor burnished gold, nor sculptor- 
ed stone, nor rythmic praise, could add one jot or 
tittle to her chaste glory. Tributes to the lofty 
genius, which is the rare gift of nature, and to the 



24 OUR PRESIDENTS 

brilliant deeds which are the rare fruits of fitting 
opportunity, fulfill a noble function; but they often 
excite extravagant emulations, that can never be 
satisfied, and individualize models, which few by 
possibility may copy. This tribute is not to them. 
It is to one who possessed only the homely virtues 
of her sex; but what is there in human life, that can 
be more admirable, or bring it in closer proximity 
to the divine? She was simply a private citizen. 
No sovereign crown rested upon her brow. She 
did not lead an army like a Joan of Arc, nor slay 
a tyrant like Charlotte Corday. She was not vers- 
ed in letters or in arts. She was not an angel of 
mercy like Florence Nightingale, nor the consort 
of Nero. She did not shine amidst the throngs 
which bow to the charms of evil beauty, and hospi- 
tality. But in any assembly of the beautiful, the 
brilliant, the powerful, or the brave of her sex, no 
form could awaken a holier sentiment of reverence 
than she, and that sentiment is all the deeper be- 
cause she was the unassuming wife and mother, 
whose kingdom was her family, whose world was 

her home She was the good angel of 

the hearthstone, the special providence of tender 
hearts, and helpless hands, content to bear her bur- 
dens in the sequestered vale of life, her thoughts un- 
perverted by false ambitions, and all unlooking for 
the great reward that crowned her love and toil. 

"But for the light that streamed from the deeds 
of him she bore, we would doubtless have never 
heard of the name of Mary Washington, and the 
grass that grew upon this grave had not been dis- 
turbed by curious footsteps or reverential hands. 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 25 

But it does not follow, that she shines only in the 
reflection of her offspring's fame. Her virtues were 
not created. They, were only discovered by the 
marvellous career of her illustrious son. This mem- 
orial might indeed be due to her, because of who she 
was, but it is far more due to her, because of what 
she was. It is in her own right, and as the type of 
her sex, her people and her race, that she deserves 
this tribute stone." 



JANE RANDOLPH JEFFERSON. 

Thomas Jefferson. 
Third President of the United States, i8oi-'9. 

The mother of Thomas Jefferson was Jane Ran- 
dolph. She was the oldest daughter of an aristo- 
cratic and wealthy planter. Peter Jefferson was en- 
gaged to marry Jane Randolph, but he was a poor 
man, and he determined he would own a home of 
his own, before he invited a woman to become his 
wife, especially one who would leave a fine home 
and a congenial atmosphere socially; so he rode out 
into the wilderness, and bought a tract of land, one 
thousand acres in extent, none of it under cultiva- 
tion. In two years, however, quite a change had 
been made, for scores of fine old trees had come 
crashing down, and in a nice clearing he built a 
log-house, and when finished he invited Jane Ran- 
dolph to come and share his log-cabin home with 
him. Stoddard says the aristocratic bride brought 
no dowry with her, except herself, but that was 



26 OUR PRESIDENTS 

enough. When Thomas was fourteen years of age, 
his father died, and the care of rearing nine chil- 
dren devolved upon this mother. The oldest was 
a daughter seventeen years old, and the youngest 
were twins twenty-two months old. This mother's 
hands were more than full, with the management of 
the estate, and her young large family. But her 
remarkable guiding genius was equal to the oc- 
casion. 

Jane Randolph was a beautiful and accomplished 
woman, cheerful, music-loving, with a fund of good 
humor, and well educated for those days. But 
father and mother belonged to one of the most vig- 
orous and intellectual families of the colony, and one 
would naturally expect, that the Author of the Dec- 
laration of Independence, would exhibit fine intel- 
lectual qualities. The dying request of Peter Jef- 
ferson was that Thomas should have a college educa- 
tion. After his father's death, Thomas was thrown 
into the companionship of his mother, and an abid- 
ing intimacy sprang up between them. This gifted 
mother deepened his thoughtfulness, and ripened 
and enriched his character. She was a member of 
the Established Church, and faithfully instructed her 
son in the manly qualities of Christian living, so that, 
when he was twenty-four, he was a college graduate, 
a member of the bar, and did not gamble, or drink; 
use tobacco or swear; such was the influence of his 
mother upon him. Posterity can never know how 
much the people of this great country are indebted 
to Jane Randolph, the widowed mother of Thomas 
Jefferson, for the part she played, in training him, 
who was to write the Magna Charta of America. 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 21 

When this great state paper is praised, consider- 
able of credit must be given to a widowed mother, 
for her painstaking care, for her fidelity, in bringing 
up this son, who was left entirely in her keeping 
when a lad fourteen years old. 



NELLIE CONWAY MADISON. 

James Madison, 
Fourth President of the United States, 1809-' 17. 

The mother of James Madison was Nellie Con- 
way. She was the mother of four sons and three 
daughters; the oldest was named James after his 
father. She was a woman of fine intellectual gifts, 
and fully competent to direct the first steps of her 
son's mental training. The deep devotion which 
this son manifested toward his mother in after years, 
speaks eloquently of the high regard he had for her. 
In fact, there is not the slightest historical evidence, 
of any President showing disrespect toward his 
mother. The mother of Madison, like the mother 
of Jefferson, was a member of the Established 
Church. When Madison's father died, the old 
homestead passed into the hands of the son, James. 
He built a fine new mansion on the estate, but did 
not disturb the old home, owing to the attachment 
his mother had for the old place, where she had 
always lived as the wife of James Madison, Sr. So 
the new house was attached to the old one. After 
retiring from the Presidency, Madison went to live 
in the new mansion, but his mother still retained 



28 OUR PRESIDENTS 

her home in the old part, which had become en- 
deared to her thru the associations of a happy wedded 
life, and where she had brought up her family of 
children. "Here," says the historian, "she kept up 
her old fashioned way of housekeeping, waited upon 
by servants who grew old and faded away with her. 
She divided her time between her Bible, and knit- 
ting, all undisturbed by the modern hours, the 
changed customs, or the elegant hospitalities of the 
mansion itself. She was the central point in the life 
of her distinguished son, and the chief object of his 
most devoted care to the end of her days. These 
were long, for she passed away at ninety-eight." 
(Stoddard). Old Mrs. Madison was very fond of Dolly 
Madison, who graced the White House as the first 
lady of the land, the beautiful and attractive wife 
of her son, and when growing infirm, thru old age, 
she said, "Dolly is my mother now, and cares most 
tenderly for all my wants." 



ABIGAIL SMITH ADAMS. 

John Quincy Adams, 
Sixth President of the United States, i825-'29. 

Abigail Smith, the mother of John Quincy 
Adams, was the daughter of a Congregational minis- 
ter. History places her, "among the most re- 
markable women of the Revolutionary period." 
She is described by Wm. H. Seward, as a woman of 
great beauty, high intellectual endowments, and she 
combined with the proper accomplishments of her 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 29 

sex, a sweetness of disposition, and a generous sym- 
pathy with the patriotic devotion of her husband. 
When John Quincy was seven years old his mother 
took him to one of the high hills, in the neighbor- 
hood of her home, and he clambered on his mother's 
knees, and listened to the sounds of the Battle of 
Bunker Hill; and watched the burning of Charles- 
town. The care of her son in his early childhood, 
developed entirely upon her, owing to the absence 
abroad of her husband, who was employed in the 
interests of his country. When John Quincy was 
appointed Minister to Holland, his father, writing 
to the mother said: 'The President has it in contem- 
plation to send your son to Holland." The father 
made use of the words "your son," in order to con- 
vey to the mother how large a part she had had in 
training that son. When John Quincy was appoint- 
ed Minister to Berlin, by his father, who was Presi- 
dent of the United States, he was reluctant to ac- 
cept the post, because the appointment came from 
his father. His father, however, wrote that it was 
the expressed wish of George Washington, that he 
should accept the post. In response, he wrote to 
his mother: "I know with what delight your truly 
maternal heart has received every testimonial of 
Washington's favorable voice. It is among the 
most precious gratifications of my life, to reflect up- 
on the pleasure which my conduct has given my 
parents. How much, my dear mother, is required 
of me to support and justify such a judgment, as 
that which you have copied in your letter." One 
of the most tender and beautiful tributes, ever ac- 
corded a mother by a son, was that bestowed by 



30 OUR PRESIDENTS 

John Quincy Adams, and which is published in his 
"Diary," 1874-77. We quote: — 'There is not a 
virtue that can abide in the female heart, but it was 
the ornament of hers. She had been fifty-four years 
the delight of my father's heart, the sweetness of all 
his toils, the comforter of all his sorrows, the sharer 
and brightness of all his joys. It was but the last 
time when I saw my father, that he told me, with 
an ejaculation of gratitude, to the Giver of every 
good and perfect gift, that in all the visissitudes of 
his fortunes, thru all the good report, and evil re- 
port of the world, in all his struggles, and in all his 
sorrows, the affectionate participation, and cheer- 
ing encouragement of his wife, had been his never 
failing support, without which he was sure, he would 

never have lived thru them 

"Never have I known another human being, the 
perpetual object of whose life was so unremittingly 
to do good. Yet so unostentatious, so unconscious, 
even of her own excellence, that even the objects of 
her kindness, often knew not whence it came. She 
had seen the world, — its glories without being daz- 
zled; its vices and follies, without being infected by 
them. She had suffered often and severely from 
fits of long and painful sickness, always with calm- 
ness and resignation. She had a profound but not 
an obtrusive sensibility. She was always cheerful, 
never frivolous; she had neither gall, nor guile. 

"Her attention to the domestic economy of her 
family was unrivalled — rising with the dawn and 
superintending the household concerns with indi- 
fatigable and all foreseeing care. She had a warm 
and lively relish for literature, for social con versa- 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 31 

tion, for whatever was interesting in the occurrences 
of the time, and even in political affairs. She had 
been during the war of the Revolution, an ardent 
patriot, and the earliest lesson of unbounded devo- 
tion to the cause of this country, that her children 
received, was from her. She had the most delicate 
sense of propriety of conduct, but nothing unchari- 
table, nothing bitter. Her price indeed was above 
rubies." Such was the tribute a most distinguished 
son paid to a most remarkable mother. She was 
the ideal wife and mother. 

Mr. Adams was brought up in a home that was 
decidedly Christian. He never got away from the 
influence of his mother. Many years before he won 
the highest honors in the gift of the American peo- 
ple, he declared: 'The God of my father and mother, 
shall be my God." He ever remained true to this 
declaration, when crowned with the highest honors 
in the gift o,f the American people. Abbott says: — 
"When his body was bent, and his hair silvered by the 
lapse of fourscore years, yielding to the simple faith 
of a child, he was accustomed to repeat every night 
before he slept, the nursery prayer his mother taught 
him in his infant years. There is a great moral 
beauty in the aspect of this venerable, world-worn 
man, folding his hands, and closing his eyes, as he 
repeated in simplicity the nursery prayer: 

Now I lay me down to sleep. 
I pray the Lord my soul to keep, 
If I should die before I wake, 
I pray the Lord my soul to take, 
And this I ask for Jesus sake." 



32 OUR PRESIDENTS 



ELIZABETH HUTCHINSON JACKSON. 

Andrew Jackson, 
Seventh President of the United States, iS2g-'^y. 

Andrew Jackson bore the name of his father. His 
mother's name was Elizabeth Hutchinson. The 
father died a few days before the son was born, and 
the mother went directly from the grave of her hus- 
band to the log cabin home of her sister, where a few 
days afterward this son was born. What a scene! 
Who would dream that a future President of the 
United States could come out of such lowly sur- 
roundings. Here was the pain-crushed, heart- 
stricken widow, no home of her own: a clotheless 
babe, coarse fare, poverty, and wild surroundings. 
Mrs. Jackson was a Presbyterian, and a very devout 
woman. She wanted her son Andrew to become 
a clergyman, which seemed impossible to every one 
but the mother. With this thought uppermost 
in mind, she trained his young mind to duty; to reli- 
gious faith and life. As her invalid sister's house- 
keeper, Mrs. Jackson worked hard, washing and 
mending and cooking, in order to help pay for the 
support of herself and her children. 

Jackson in his early life drifted a long way oft from 
the coveted desire of his mother. One biographer 
says, "He was the most roaring, rollicking, game- 
cocking, horse-racing, card-playing, mischievous 
fellow that lived in Salisbury," and another declares, 
that he sowed a big crop of wild oats in his early 
manhood. His education was of the most meagre 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 33 

sort, consisting of but little more than the three 
R's. He never learned to write English correctly. 

Andrew Jackson's mother practically died a mar- 
tyr to her country, as the result of hardships and 
exposure sustained during the Revolutionary war. 
Her two sons, Robert and Andrew, both mere lads, 
Andrew not yet fifteen, were among the young pa- 
triots who volunteered to ward off the Tories at 
Waxhaw. Both were taken prisoners. A Tory offi- 
cer commanded Andrew to blacken his boots. An- 
drew replied, "Sir, I am a prisoner of war, and claim 
to be treated as such." The officer glared at him 
like a wild beast, and aimed a desperate blow at his 
head. Andrew broke the force of the blow with his 
hand, and received two wounds, a deep gash on the 
head, and another on the hand. The scars from these 
wounds he carried to his dying day. This officer 
next turned to his brother Robert, and ordered him 
to blacken his boots. Robert saw the wounds of 
his brother, and the fresh blood pouring from them, 
and had every reason to fear a like assault, in case he 
should refuse. But he did refuse, and the officer 
dealt him a terrific blow on the head which levelled 
him to the floor, and disabled him. An aged rela- 
tive, commenting on the scene said, "I'll reckon 
Andy thought of it at New Orleans." The two 
wounded Jackson boys suffered intensely, as a conse- 
quence of the inhuman treatment from the Tories. 
This treatment reminds us of the terribleness of the 
Germans in the present world war. 

Both boys were stricken with small-pox. Their de- 
voted mother heard of their pitiable plight. Prison- 
ers — wounded — small-pox! She strove with all the 



34 OUR PRESIDENTS 

might of mother love for their deliverance, and final- 
ly succeeded in effecting an exchange of prisoners. 
When the mother gazed upon her two boys, saw 
their pitiable condition — the wound on Robert's 
head had not even been dressed — she was overcome 
with astonishment and horror. In two days after 
Robert reached home he was a corpse, and Andrew 
a raving maniac. But a mother's nursing, and a 
strong constitution pulled Andrew thru. After he 
was well on the way to recovery, this patriotic mo- 
ther heard of the sufferings of the prisoners of war, 
at Charleston, and she volunteered her services. 
There were no Red Cross nurses in those days, but 
there were devoted women, who were pioneers of 
the Red Cross work. Tradition says, that Mrs. 
Jackson made the long journey of one hundred and 
sixty miles on foot. Andrew Jackson, however, 
doubts this. He thinks that some way was surely 
provided to get his mother to her destination. But 
her rough journey thru life was nearly over. She 
was seized with ship-fever, and soon after died. The 
only legacy this poor woman had to leave her or- 
phan son, was a pathetic little bundle of clothes, 
which was sent to him at Waxhaw, and a stainless 
character, and the memory of a good mother, and 
faithful Christian. Andrew mourned deeply over 
the loss of his good patriotic mother. He owed her 
his life. In after years he loved to dwell upon her 
many virtues. He revered her memory, as he had 
the right to do. In after life, he declared, that he 
never got away from the influence of her godly life, 
and when he embraced Christianity, it was no doubt 
in answer to this mother's prayers, and the uncon- 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 35 

scious influence of her life. He did, not become a 
clergyman, but he became a gallant American Gen- 
eral, a distinguished statesman, and President of the 
United States. Would that this mother of toil and 
sacrifice might have lived, to have rejoiced in the 
honors that came to her distinguished son. Her 
burial place is unknown. She was buried so ob- 
scurely, her grave has never been discovered. An- 
drew, a little over fourteen years old, was left an or- 
phan, sick, sorrowful, homeless. Parton, in his "Life 
of Jackson," styles him, "An orphan of the Revolu- 
tion," but the great heart of the people of this Re- 
public, adopted him as Son. 



ELIZABETH SPEER BUCHANAN 

James Buchanan, 
Fifteenth President of the United States, i857-'6i. 

James Buchanan was born in a log-cabin, built 
by his father, on a piece of ground where he had 
"staked his claim," in Franklin Co., Pa. The trees 
out of which the cabin was built were felled by the 
father's own hands. In this log-cabin, the future 
President lived until he was eight years old. His 
mother, Elizabeth Speer, was a woman of uncom- 
mon intellect. Horton, in his "Life of James Buch- 
anan," says that "Altho' she had not enjoyed the 
advantages of a superior education, she was distin- 
guished for her masculine sense, and remarkable lit- 
erary taste. . . . She was also a woman of the 
most exalted and enlightened piety, and to her in- 



36 OUR PRESIDENTS 

fluence in forming his character, and implanting 
those fundamental principles of conduct, which un- 
derlie all true greatness, is her son, James Buchanan, 
indebted for his present distinction." That he was 
indebted to his mother for his rich intellectual gifts, 
admits of no doubt. When in college no study was 
too difficult. He never went to class unprepared. 
He not simply had learned his lesson, but he had 
mastered it. When he graduated from Dickinson 
College, he was only eighteen years old, and graduat- 
ed with the highest honors. 

James Buchanan is another of our Presidents who 
has paid a beautiful and loving tribute to the mem- 
ory of his mother. She was the mother of eleven 
children, a member of the Presbyterian church, a very 
devout woman, and had a great influence over her 
son James. She was passionately fond of the best 
literature, and according to her son, James, had a 
prodigious memory. As one reads the remarkable 
tribute paid to her by her son, long after he had be- 
come a national character, he is reminded of the 
words of Sacred Writ, "Her children rise up and 
call her blessed." The following is this tribute of 
love, almost without parallel in literature, surely de- 
serving a place alongside that of John Quincy 
Adams, which he paid to his mother: 

"My mother, considering her limited opportuni- 
ties in early life, was a remarkable woman. The 
daughter of a country farmer, engaged in household 
employment from early life, until after my father's 
death. She yet found time to read much, and to 
reflect deeply on what she read. She had a great 
fondness for poetry, and could repeat with ease, all 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 37 

the passages in her favorite authors, which struck 
her fancy. These were Milton, Young, Cowper and 
Thompson. I do not think, at least until a late per- 
iod of life, she had ever read a criticism on any of 
these authors, and yet such was the correctness of 
her natural taste, that she had selected for herself, 
and could repeat every passage in them which has 
been admired. 

"She was a sincere and devoted Christian, from the 
time of my earliest recollection, and had read much 
on the subject of Theology; and what she read once 
she remembered forever. For her sons, as they 
successively grew up, she was a delightful and in- 
structive companion. She would argue with them 
and often gain the victory; ridicule then in any folly, 
or eccentricity; excite their ambition by presenting 
to them in glowing colors, men who had been use- 
ful to their country, or their kind, as objects of imi- 
tation, and enter into all their joys and sorrows. Her 
early habits of laborious industry, she could not be 
induced to forego, while she had anything to do. 
My father did everything he could to prevent her 
from laboring in her domestic concerns, but it was 
all in vain. I had often, during my vacations, at 
school, or college, sat in the room with her, and 
while she was, (entirely of her own choice) busily 
engaged in homely domestic employments, have 
spent hours pleasantly and instructively, conversing 
with her. 

"She was a woman of great firmness of character, 
and bore the afflictions of her later life with Chris- 
tian philosophy. After my father's death, she lost 
two sons, William and George Washington, two 



38 OUR PRESIDENTS 

young men of great promise, and also a favorite 
daughter. These afflictions withdrew her affections, 
gradually more and more, away from the things of 
this world, and she died on May 14, 1833, at Greens- 
burg, in the calm and firm assurance that she was 
going home to her father and her God. It was 
chiefly to her influence that her sons were indebted 
for a liberal education. Under Providence, I at- 
tribute any little distinction which I may have ac- 
quired in the world to the blessing which He con- 
ferred upon me in granting me such a mother." 

Here was a mother not completely absorbed in 
clubs, and fashionable fandangoes, but who took the 
time to be a companion to her children, as well as a 
consistent example in Christian discipleship. She 
counselled with them, and taught them the value of 
clean living, and the privilege of having high and 
lofty aspirations in life. Any child would owe a 
world of debt to such a mother. 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 39 

NANCY HANKS LINCOLN. 

Abraham Lincoln, 
Sixteenth President of the United States, i86i-'65. 

Every High School scholar is familiar with the 
name of Nancy Hanks, the mother of Abraham Lin- 
coln. She has been described as slender, and deli- 
cate, rather pale and sad, of a shrinking nature, still 
heroic. Miss Tarbell in her "Life of Lincoln," says, 
"She was a sweet tempered and a beautiful woman, 
whom tradition paints as the centre of all the coun- 
try merry-making." The Hanks girls were also very 
religious, and were prominent at camp meetings, 
were fine singers, and occasionally indulged in a 
shout acccrding to the Methodist customs of those 
days. Carl Schurz is the only author we have come 
across who describes Mrs. Lincoln in an altogether 
different light. He paints her as coarse and ignorant, 
and with melancholy disposition. Historically, we be- 
lieve this to be incorrect, in view of the fact that his- 
torians, generally speaking, have agreed otherwise. 

In a mere hut, on a poor scrub farm near Hodgen- 
ville, La Rue Co., Ky., Abraham Lincoln was born. 
His cradle, and the only one he ever knew, was his 
poor mother's arms. His only playmate, in his 
earliest childhood, his sister Nancy, bearing this 
name during the life of her mother, and after her 
death, taking the name of Sarah, after her step- 
mother. Lincoln's playground was the primeval 
forest about him. He never owned a toy, for toys 
were expensive, and there was little money in the 
Lincoln home. When Lincoln was seven years old, 
he and little sister Nancy, trudged behind their 



40 OUR PRESIDENTS 

father and mother into the trackless wilds of South- 
ern Indiana. Here, on Little Pigeon Creek, Thom- 
as Lincoln established his new home. The land 
chosen was covered with dense forest, and no shel- 
ter awaited the family he brought with him, so he 
hastily cut down a lot of young saplings, and con- 
structed a shed into which he moved his family. It 
shielded the family only on three sides, thru the freez- 
ing storms of one long winter. It had no floor, no 
windows, and the ground floor turned into mud 
when the thaws set in. There was not even a skin 
to hang over the open front to keep out the storms. 
Pegs were driven in the wall, and young Lincoln 
nimbly climbed up these to his bed of leaves in the 
rude loft. Nancy Hanks could not withstand the 
rigors of the frontier life. Hardship, exposure, and 
anxiety had begun to tell on her. In the summer 
of 1818 malarial fever broke out in the neighbor- 
hood. Her uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Dennis 
Sparrow, were both striken with the disease. They 
were brought to the Lincoln shanty to be cared for. 
Nancy Hanks waited on them, and attended also 
the cares of her own household, pouring out her life 
and strength for others, as Elizabeth Hutchinson, 
the martyred mother of Andrew Jackson had done. 
The uncle and aunt both died. The extra burdens 
had begun to tell on the already over-burdened 
mother, and she, too, fell an easy victim to the fever. 
The nearest physician was thirty-five miles away. 
The swift fever soon burnt her life out. As the end 
drew near, Abraham knelt sobbing beside his dying 
mother. He was losing his best friend. She laid 
her hand on his young head, and gave him her last 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 41 

message, calling upon him to be good to his father 
and sister, and calling upon all to be good to one 
another and worship God. It has been generally 
supposed that it was at this time he promised his 
mother that he would never use intoxicating liquor, 
for he made the promise when he was nine years old, 
and that was his age when his mother died. That 
promise he kept to the day of his death. When he 
had grown to manhood, he was delivering an address 
at a temperance meeting, and read a pledge he had 
written. 

"Whereas, The use of intoxicating liquors as a 
beverage is productive of pauperism, degradation and 
crime; and believing it our duty to discourage that 
which produces more evil than good, we therefore 
pledge ourselves to abstain from the use of intoxica- 
ting liquors as a beverage." 

Mr. Lincoln was always a firm exponent of total 
abstinence. The influence of Nancy Hanks, thru 
the agency of a pledge exacted from her son, when 
she was dying, continues to live thru the channel of 
the Lincoln-Lee Temperance Legion. In a sermon 
published in The Christian Advocate, from the text, 
"There is a place by me," the writer says, that when 
Lincoln's mother was dying she pressed her son to 
her breast, and bade him a long and loving farewell, 
saying: "Be something, Abe." Ever and anon dur- 
ing the years that were to come, Lincoln heard 
the voice of his angel mother saying: "Be some- 
thing, Abe." Throughout the years of his struggle 
and toil, and when honors at last came to him, the 
words of that angel mother, from the angel world 
would come to him, "Be something, Abe." He 



42 OUR PRESIDENTS 

once said to an intimate friend, his eyes suffused 
with tears, ''All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to 
my angel mother, — blessings on her memory." 
Strange that there have been those who have said, 
that Mr. Lincoln in these words, referred to his 
step-mother, when his step-mother was still living 
when he gave expression to them. 

This boy, but nine years old, when his mother 
slipped away to heaven, loved his mother with all the 
ardor of his soul. His father's knowledge of carpen- 
try, enabled him to make the pine box which was to 
contain the body of his mother. Young Abe stood 
by, while this rude box was being nailed together. 
He stood by when his father lowered that rude cas- 
ket in the grave, which he had made in an adjoining 
forest. There were no religious services, connected 
with his mother's burial, and this almost broke young 
Lincoln's heart. An itinerant Methodist preacher, 
named Parson Elkins, had occasionally conducted 
religious services in the neighborhood. Lincoln 
secured his address, and the first letter he ever wrote 
was addressed to this minister requesting him to 
come and hold religious services over that lonely 
grave. Receiving an affirmative answer, he sent in- 
vitations to the settlers, and fully two hundred came 
to the funeral from miles around. If Parson El- 
kins had known that that letter was written by a 
boy who was destined to become President of the 
United States, how carefully he would have preserved 
it. The funeral sermon of this humble Methodist 
preacher, made a profound impression on Lincoln's 
mind, and was never effaced. The day to him was 
a holy day. 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 43 

While Nancy Hanks could not be called an edu- 
cated woman, even in those days, she was able to 
read, and often read to young Abe, and his sister, 
the father sitting by understanding and appreciating 
an education, all the more because he had it not. 
Much has been written about Mr. Lincoln's use of 
the Bible. To his mother he was indebted for his 
great love of the Holy Scriptures. His mother is 
reported to have said, "I would rather my son would 
be able to read the Bible, than to own a farm, if he 
cannot have but one." Lincoln probably never 
owned a farm, and may never have had sufficient 
funds to purchase one, but he did know his Bible. 
The influence of the Holy Scriptures on Mr. Lin- 
coln's life, and his writings, is remarkable. A re- 
cent writer says, he has taken the pains to go thru 
Mr. Lincoln's published works, speeches, letters and 
public papers, and had marked every reference to 
God, Providence, every Scriptural allusion, or quota- 
tion, and in so doing was astonished at the result. 
Some pages were literally covered with pencilings. 
Raymond, in his "Life and Public Services of Abra- 
ham Lincoln," says, that when his mother died, "she 
was happy in the knowledge, that chiefly under her 
own tuition, her son had learned to read the Bible, 
the book, which as a Christian woman, she prized 
above all others. It is impossible to estimate the 
influence which this faithful mother exerted in 
moulding the character of her child." The earnest- 
ness with which she impressed on his mind and heart 
:the holy precepts of this Book, did most to develop 
those characteristics, which in after years caused him 
to be known as the "Honest" man. This great 



44 OUR PRESIDENTS 

Commoner had honestly and righteously earned the 
name, "Honest old Abe," which an admiring public 
applied to him, but when thus applied an uncon- 
scious compliment was paid to his Angel Mother, 
Nancy Hanks. 



mary Mcdonough — johnson. 

Andrew Johnson, 
Seventeenth President of the United States, i865-'69. 

In at least five log-cabin homes, were born sons 
who were destined to become Presidents of the 
United States. Andrew Johnson may not have been 
born in a log-cabin, for he was born at Raleigh, N. 
C, but owing to the extreme poverty of his father, 
the house, doubtless, was little more than a shamble. 
When Andrew was four years old, his father died. 
He was drowned while attempting to save the life 
of a friend. His mother, Mary McDonough, was 
left a widow, and to her, in her poverty, was left the 
task of caring for one who was to become the Presi- 
dent of the United States. Of the seven widows, men- 
tioned in this book, none had a more difficult task, 
than Mrs. Johnson, owing to the impoverished con- 
dition of the family. After the death of Jacob John- 
son the mother and Andrew dropped completely out 
of sight, from the time the lad was four years until he 
was ten. Nobody knows how Mrs. Johnson man- 
aged to get along; however, she must have managed 
to find some way. 

We read to-day of the "Poor Whites," of the 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 4* 

South, improvished and uneducated. To this class 
of people belonged the Johnson family. Even color- 
ed folks, then and now, thus speak contemptuously 
of them. They did not know the value of an educa- 
tion. They had no aspirations in that direction. 
Consequently, few if any attended school. Andrew- 
Johnson's experience was no exception to the ex- 
perience of the other "Poor Whites." He had no 
schooling. Think of one who never attended school 
a day in his life, but who fitted himself to serve his 
state in the Legislature, and as Governor, and the 
nation as a United States Senator, and finally exalt- 
ed to the Presidential chair. His lot in early life 
was a hard one. When he was ten, he was appren- 
ticed to a master-tailor, named Selby, and that ap- 
prenticeship was to last seven long, weary years. 
While working at his trade, the boy learned the al- 
phabet, and also to read. He borrowed books, and 
would read and study from two to three hours every 
night. A few months before his apprenticeship ex- 
pired, he ran away, and began working for himself. 
We believe he was inspired to do this thro' the neces- 
sity of caring for his mother, — this the sequel seems 
to prove. He had not deserted his master-tailor 
long before his course of action began to prey upon 
his mind, and not having money to pay for transpor- 
tation to the city where Selby lived, he walked the 
entire twenty miles. His motive in returning was 
to apologize for running away, and to pay for the 
months of service still due Mr. Selby. He was still 
less than eighteen years of age, he had served seven 
years as an apprentice boy, and had a dependent 
mother to care for. Tenderly, he will care for her, to 



46 OUR PRESIDENTS 

the utmost of his ability, she who cared for him, in 
her poverty, during his early childhood. He took 
his mother to Greenville, Tenn., where he established 
his home. Andrew Johnson was fortunate in mar- 
rying a very intelligent woman, who at once became 
interested in assisting him in his studies. To his 
teacher-wife he owed much. No man who afterward 
became President of the United States, had more 
hardship, and so little to encourage him in his early 
life, as Andrew Johnson. The 'Tailor" President 
deserves much credit, and is truly deserving of high 
praise, for what he made of himself. Coming from 
the ranks of the poor and common people himself, 
throughout his career, he espoused their cause, and 
among them, was popular. His lack of a liberal 
education was doubtless responsible for his obstin- 
acy, and narrow-mindedness which he at times ex- 
hibited in public life. 

It is greatly to the credit of Andrew Johnson, that 
he was never ashamed of his humble origin, and ob- 
scure occupation of his earlier days. On one oc- 
casion he said on the floor of the Senate of the 
United States: 

"I do not forget that I am a mechanic, neither do 
I forget that Adam was a tailor, and sewed fig- 
leaves, and that our Saviour was the son of a carpen- 
ter." 

While Andrew Johnson was serving as an appren- 
tice in Selby's tailor shop, his boy companion and 
friend McGofrm was learning the blacksmith's 
trade. Years afterward, when Andrew Johnson was 
serving the great State of Tennessee as Governor, his 
blacksmith friend was serving the equally great State 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 47 

of Kentucky, as Governor. After Johnson became 
Governor of Tennessee, the story is told, that he 
bought cloth, and with his own hands made a fine 
suit of clothes, which he presented to his friend Gov. 
McGoffin, of Ky. In return, Gov. McGoffin went 
to a blacksmith's shop, donned a leather-apron, roll- 
ed up his sleeves, stood at anvil and forge, and made 
with his own hands, a shovel and pair of tongs, 
which he sent to Gov. Johnson, with the wish that 
they would help keep alive "the flame of their friend- 
ship." It is not surprising that such a man as An- 
drew Johnson, should be exceedingly popular with 
the common people of our great nation. 



4* OUR PRESIDENTS 

HANNAH SIMPSON GRANT. 

Ulysses S. Grant, 
Eighteenth President of the United States, 1&69-JJ. 

Hannah Simpson, the mother of Ulysses S. Grant, 
was a devout Christian, and member of the Method- 
ist Episcopal church. Many an itinerant Method- 
ist preacher enjoyed the hospitality of her home. 
Hannah Simpson was amiable, serene, even-temper- 
ed, self-forgetful, kind and considerate to all. She 
would speak ill of no one. She governed her chil- 
dren without the rod. Grant declared that he had 
no recollection of ever being punished at home 
either by scolding or whipping, by either father or 
mother. This was a most remarkable statement to 
make, and one that can be made by but few. In 
return for the tender affection manifested by this 
mother toward her children, they were tractable, 
well-behaved, never boisterous, nor rude in the fam- 
ily circle. Ulysses was taught to be prompt in do- 
ing, or at least in attempting to do whatever he 
was told. He was honest to the farthing, and in- 
capable of crookedness, and as a boy valued strict 
truth-telling. The historian says, that the closest 
comrades of his boyhood insist that he was never 
guilty of a deliberate falsehood. In this little vol- 
ume, we present a remarkable trio in this respect: 
Washington, Grant, and McKinley, as we shall see 
later on. 

Hannah Simpson Grant never praised her sons or 
daughters in the presence of others. When Ulys- 
ses became a distinguished national character, she 
scrupulously refrained from speaking boastingly of 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 49 

her distinguished son, and when others sounded his 
praises in her ears, she would blush like a school- 
girl, and frequently leave the room. When he was 
elected to the Presidency, Mrs. Grant said of him, 
as Mary Washington said of her son, "He was al- 
ways a good boy." She expressed no more sur- 
prise at his election to this high office, than did 
Washington's mother, when he became the Presi- 
dent of this young nation in 1789. When old age 
came, she had a calm, winning manner, and a face 
still sweet, and still young. Ulysses inherited many 
of his traits of character from his mother. From her 
he derived his reticence, modesty, self-abnegation, 
patience, and equanimity. We are told that the best 
thing Jesse Grant ever did was to marry Hannah 
Simpson. Jesse Grant pays this tribute to the 
mother of the President: — "Her steadiness, firmness, 
and strength of character, have been the stay of the 
family thru life. She was always careful, and most 
watchful over her children; but never austere, and 
not opposed to their free participation in innocent 
amusements." Col. F. D. Grant, the President's 
son speaks thus of her: — she was "one of the most 
modest and unselfish of women. Her intimate friends 
greatly appreciated her rare worth and excel- 
lent qualities, many of which the General inherited. 
Devoted as she was to him, his honors and success 
never betrayed her into an act or remark which 
would indicate that her head was turned by them. 
She was glad and thankful for his good fortune, 
and with the loving faithfulness of a Christian mother, 
she had long made his welfare the subject of earnest 
prayer. She had faith in his future, tho' not great 



50 OUR PRESIDENTS 

worldly expectations, and during the last years of 
his life, her interest in his future had special re- 
ference to that part on which they have both en- 
tered." 

From the influence of such a mother, of charming 
Christian graces, we are not surprised at Grant's ab- 
horrence of all obscene and profane language. "The 
restraining influence of his mother's teachings oper- 
ated so powerfully upon his mind, that he never 
uttered an oath in his life." No doubt, the same 
influence was responsible for his abhorrence of ob- 
scenity. He would not tolerate for a moment the 
telling of an unclean story. He has been lauded to 
the skies, for his firm stand in this particular, but 
we cannot eliminate the influence of Hannah Simp- 
son Grant. Grant always held in reverence the 
religion of his mother. He would rather enjoy the 
charming presence of this mother than to be the 
honored guest at a banquet given by his admiring 
country-men. A few days after he had received his 
commission as General-in-chief of the American 
Army, while in Washington, he received an invita- 
tion from President Lincoln to attend a military 
dinner at the White House in his honor. He thank- 
ed the President but courteously declined. The din- 
ner came off, but as Mr. Lincoln said, "It was like 
Hamlet with the Prince left out." General Grant 
took a train for Cincinnati, Ohio, where his parents 
were living, and while the dinner was in progress, 
where he might have been the commanding figure, 
admired by all, as the Nation's hero, this silent man 
of American history, was locked in the quiet com- 
radeship of his aged father and mother. 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 51 

We have an unerring index, pointing to the affec- 
tionate regard Grant cherished in his heart for this 
great and good mother, in a letter which he wrote 
to her shortly after he became a Cadet at West 
Point. "I have occasionally been called upon to 
be separated from you, but never did I feel the full 
force and effect of this separation as I do now. I 
seem alone in the world without my mother. There 
have been so many ways in which you have advised 
me, when in the quiet of home, I have been pur- 
suing my studies, that I cannot tell you how much 
I miss you. I was so often alone with you, and 
you so frequently spoke to me in private, that 
the solitude of my situation here at the Academy, 
among my silent books, and in my lonely room, is 
all the more striking. It reminds me the more forci- 
bly of home, and most of all, dear mother, of you. 
But in the midst of all this, your kindly instructions 
and admonitions, are ever present with me. I trust 
they may never be absent from me, as long as I live. 
How often do I think of them, and how well they 
strengthen me in every good word and work! My 
dear mother, should I progress well with my studies 
at West Point, and become a soldier of my country, 
I am looking forward with hope, to have you spared 
to share with me, in any advancement I may make. 
/ see now in looking over the records here, how much 
American soldiers of the right stamp ar<- indebted to 
good American Mothers! When they go to the fields, 
what prayers go with them; what tender testimo- 
nials of affection and counsel are in their knapsacks! 
I am struck, in looking over the history of the noble 
struggle of our fathers for national independence, 



52 OUR PRESIDENTS 

at the evidence of the good influence exerted upon 
them by the women of the Revolution." 

The author is responsible for the italics in the 
above letter. It bears out the thought in the mind of 
the writer of the great debt our country owes to the 

O J 

mothers of our great men, and particularly, the mo- 
thers of our Presidents. Thus wrote the young cadet 
to his absent mother. And history has proved that 
the hand of Hannah Simpson was largely instru- 
mental, in presenting to this nation, a son who be- 
came the greatest American soldier, this country 
has ever produced, and one of our most worthy 
Presidents. The Grant America knows could not 
have been without the influence and guiding genius 
of that wise and good mother Hannah Simpson. 

Mothers of Presidents! Witness their influence. 
We see it evidenced in the life of Washington, the 
Father of his country; in Jefferson, who gave to the 
American people their Magna Charta, and in the 
career of Grant, who thro' victories won on the far 
flung battle line, prevented the dismemberment of 
the Union. Why has not some historian discover- 
ed long ago the tremendous debt we owe to these 
uncrowned Queens of our fair land! As we move 
among them and fellowship with their distinguished 
sons, we seem to be fairly moving in the company 
of goddesses and gods. It is true, they were mortals, 
— the mothers, the sons, — but what sun-crowned 
mortals! 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 53 



SOPHIA BIRCHARD HAYES. 

Rutherford B. Hayes, 
Nineteenth President of the United States, 1877- 

1881. 

Sophia Birchard was the mother of Rutherford 
Birchard Hayes. His father died before he was 
born, so that we have two of our Presidents, Andrew 
Jackson, and Rutherford B. Hayes, brought up en- 
tirely by their mothers, the father in each instance, 
dying before the birth of their son, and again we 
have the oft-repeated story of a widow bringing up 
a son to become a President of the United States. 
Surely fathers have no right to take on airs in this 
respect, and yet when widows and mothers have 
had so much to do in training sons for the Presiden- 
cy, the biographer or historian, has generally dis- 
missed her, by informing us about her parents, when 
she was married, and the number of children that 
came to the home to bless the union. In at least 
one instance, we almost failed to determine even the 
name of the mother; she was poor, of obscure birth, 
and was dismissed with a stroke of the pen. Fathers 
are skeptical about the necessity of so much guard- 
ing, cautioning, and training. Not so mothers. Pos- 
sibly this is responsible, in a measure, at least, for 
such distinguished sons as Washington, Jefferson, 
Jackson, Johnson, Hayes, Garfield and Cleveland, in 
becoming such great national characters. They were 
blessed with the constant guardianship of good and 
wise mothers. Mother instinct is always useful in 
rearing children. 



54 OUR PRESIDENTS 

Rutherford Hayes and his wife Sophia Birchard 
moved from Brattleboro, Vt., in 1817, to Delaware, 
Ohio, when it required 47 days to make the journey. 
Mr. Hayes was considered well-to-do for those days. 
His wife was a woman of much refinement, and pos- 
sessed fine Christian principles. The training her 
children received from her hands, was very strict, 
leaning toward the New England Puritanical school. 
Young Hayes was nicknamed "Ruddy," and never 
did a boy have a more appropriate name, for he was 
always healthy and rosy-cheeked. At an early day 
his mother became his teacher. She taught him 
how to spell, and read, and besides other lessons, 
that were to be useful to him in after life, by pre- 
cept and example. He was taught the finer art 
of learning how to command himself, so great a 
necessity, should he in after years be called upon 
to command others. A sister also graced the father- 
less home, and this little sister and little brother 
were almost inseparable. Mrs. Hayes never sur- 
rendered to the schoolmaster the responsibility of 
developing the mental and moral nature of her chil- 
dren. Mothers never should do this. She was a 
perfect Past Master in the art of establishing a 
workable reconciliation between book and ball — 
club, pen and gun, slate and fishing tackle, and 
there is a perfect reconciliation between work and 
play. The play instinct is nature's gift, and needs 
proper development along legitimate channels, the 
same as the mind. Mrs. Hayes, as Master-builder, 
taught her son how to construct a character building 
into which went, "Good work, True work, Square 
work, just such work" as would be needed, when 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 65 

the structure would be tested in the fierce storms 
of life. Daily, under her guidance, without sound 
of axe, hammer or tool of iron, this invisible struc- 
ture went up. 

When young Hayes was 16 years old, he was 
ready for college. He was prepared for Yale, but 
Yale was so far away from the Hayes home in Dela- 
ware, Ohio, that the mother could not bear the 
thought of sending the boy so far away from her, so 
she began corresponding with the authorities of 
Kenyon College, Ohio, which institution he entered 
in due time. 

The strict views of Mr. Hayes' mother made a 
lasting impression upon the mind of her son. While 
to Mrs. Hayes, the President's wife, is given the 
honor of being the first President's wife to banish 
liquors from the White House table, and the W. C. 
T. U. have made much of it, as they have the right 
to do, and have honored her, for her total absti- 
nence rules, and enforcements, and have presented 
to the White House a portrait of Mrs. Hayes, which 
now adorns the walls of one of the rooms of the 
White House, the suggestion to thus banish wines, 
first came from the President himself. After the 
President had retired from office, his own views were 
published, which were as follows. "When I became 
President, I was fully convinced that whatever 
might be the case in other countries, and with peo- 
ple in our climate, and with the excitable, nervous 
temperament of our people, the habitual use of in- 
toxicating drinks was not safe. I regarded the dan- 
ger of the habit as especially great in political and 
official life. It seemed to me that to exclude liquors 



56 OUR PRESIDENTS 

from the White House, would be wise and useful 
as an example, and would be approved by good 
people generally. The suggestion was particularly 
agreeable to Mrs. Hayes, she had been a total absti- 
nence woman from childhood. We had never used 
liquors in our own home, and it was determined to 
continue our home customs in our official residence 
in Washington." So we are forced to the conclusion 
that the suggestion of banishing liquors from the 
White House table first came from the President, 
and in this there was lurking, some of the strict 
Puritanical notions of the New England mother, 
Sophia Birchard. It would be hard to get away 
from the teachings of such a mother, and it is well. 



AND THEIR MOTHERS OT 

ELIZA BALLOU GARFIELD 

James A. Garfield, 
Twentieth President of the United States, 1881. 

James A. Garfield was born in a log cabin. His 
mother, Eliza Ballou, was left a widow, with four 
children to support, the oldest 10 years old, and 
James, the youngest, but 18 months. The father, 
Abram Garfield, had been fighting a fire. The con- 
flagration had spread to fences, woods, and fields. 
Everything was threatened. The fire lasted many 
hours, but finally he got the best of it. Abram Gar- 
field was of powerful physique, he had become over- 
heated, and was very tired. He sat down in the 
shade of his cabin doorway to cool off. He had 
been warned of the danger of sitting in a draft, in 
his over-heated condition, but he believed that, with 
his robust health, there could be no danger, so he 
sat still. It was a fatal mistake, for in three days 
he was dead. The older children were old enough 
to understand what death meant, but not so little 
"Jimmy." He would pull at the sheets of his 
father's bier, and pitiously cry for his papa, and 
wondered why he continued to sleep so long. The 
neighbors said, his mother could never support the 
family. The children would have to be bound out, 
or given away. Suppose the mother had acted on 
their suggestions. If she had, the world would 
never have heard of James A. Garfield. 

Eliza Ballou Garfield was face to face with a 
grim situation. The farm had never been fully 
fenced. The stock was not paid for. Fruit trees 



58 OUR PRESIDENTS 

had not been planted long enough to produce fruit. 
There was only a meagre stock of provision on hand. 
Crops were to be gathered, and there was nobody 
to do the work. This was the task that faced the 
young widow. But she was an unnoticed heroine. 
She never for a moment dreamed of either selling 
the farm, or scattering the children. She believed 
she would find a way out of her perplexing difficul- 
ties. 

She sold off part of the farm, and with the pro- 
ceeds paid off the debt on the remaining 30 acres, 
and she then had her 30 acres, and two cows free 
from debt. Thomas, the oldest boy, and his mo- 
ther, attempted to complete the unfinished rail- 
fence. We can scarcely imagine it possible, that a 
mother of a future President ever made the attempt 
to split rails for a fence. We are not making such a 
claim, but there is room for such conjecture. She 
helped gather the crops, and added to her income, 
by assisting the neighbors, spinning, weaving and 
knitting. Little Jimmy was the pet of his mother, 
and the pride of his brother Thomas, and his sisters. 
Thomas would save his pennies, in order to purchase 
his little brother a pair of shoes, so that he could 
attend the Sabbath services. 

At 10, James was helping out his mother's in- 
come, by working for the neighbors on their farms. 
He had a liking for the sea. His mother did not 
want him to take up a sea-faring life, but he made 
an attempt at it. Failing to secure a position on 
any of the vessels on Lake Erie, he tried the Canal, 
and here he was successful in securing a job. One 
day he was thrown in the Canal. As he sank in 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 69 

the water, with none to help, he thought he must 
surely drown. He was almost miraculously saved, 
and began to think that such a deliverance was well- 
nigh providential. He also knew his mother was 
not pleased with his work, so he soon started for 
home, which he reached late at night. Here, he saw 
a scene in the open window which he never forgot. 
His mother was on her knees, with the open Bible 
before her. He heard her praying, "Oh turn unto 
me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength to 
thy servant, and save the son of thy handmaid/' and 
this prayer offered by this mother that night, was 
the prayer the son knew, his mother offered for her 
absent boy every night. He waited until she had 
finished her prayer, then opened the door, and her 
prayer was answered. The next moment, mother 
and son, were locked into each other's embrace. Who 
can understand how much it is worth to a boy, to 
have a praying mother like that? Henceforth he 
determined to devote himself toward securing an 
education. His purpose met with his mother's un- 
qualified approval. He fitted himself for college in 
Hiram Eclectic Institute, paying his expenses, by 
ringing the college bell, and with his room-mate, 
cooking his own meals, and doing his own house- 
keeping. 

Garfield is another example of our Presidents, 
who have left us an unswerving example of fidelity, 
and devotion toward his mother. He exempli- 
fied this, in his early life, when he returned to his 
mother, in her log-cabin home, because he could not 
bear to leave her alone, and rendered her a son's 
loyal support. He exemplified this throughout an 



60 OUR PRESIDENTS 

unusually active life, when it became crowded with 
political duties and activities. After he had finished 
reading his inaugural address, he turned to Chief 
Justice Waite and said, "I am now prepared to take 
the oath." The Clerk of the Supreme Court, who 
attended the Chief Justice, produced a Sabbath 
School edition of the Bible, doubtless at the request 
of Air. Garfield. The President elect took this 
book, and after the oath of office had been adminis- 
tered by the Chief Justice, Gen. Garfield kissed the 
page, bowed to the Chief Justice, and turned first of 
all to the wrinkled little woman that stood close by 
his side, whom he fondly called ''Mother." and affec- 
tionately kissed her in the presence of twenty-five 
thousand applauding citizens of this great country. 
It was a proud day for Eliza Garfield. She was be- 
ing rewarded for all her sacrifice and toil. She fair- 
ly idolized her distinguished son. Her suffering dur- 
ing the long protracted illness of the President, after 
he had been shot by the assassin Guiteau, was path- 
etic. The mind of the stricken President, on his sick 
bed, often reverted to his lonely mother. Amidst 
his own sufferings, he wanted to help and cheer her. 
When his friends were banished from her bedside, 
not even James G. Blaine, whom he loved like a 
brother, was permitted to see him, he thought of 
his mother, isolated and suffering. With his own 
hands he wrote the following letter: 

Washington, D. C, Aug. u, 1881. 
Dear Mother: — 

Don't be disturbed by conflicting reports about 
my condition. It is true, that I am still weak, and 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 61 

on my back, but I am gaining every day, and need 
only time and patience to bring me thru. 

Give my love to all my relations and friends, and 
especially to sisters Hetty and Mary. 

Your loving son, 

James A. Garfield. 

Mrs. Eliza Garfield, 
Hiram, Ohio. 

The letter began strong and steady. But the 
handwriting records a fast ebbing strength, until 
the last word, which was more the driving of a pen, 
than a word. It was a pathetic revelation of a fast 
ebbing strength. When dying, he was little Jim- 
my Garfield again. Back in the home of his boy- 
hood, with loved ones around him, and by the side 
of the mother, who so fondly loved him. The Presi- 
dent died the day before his aged mother was eighty 
years old. When told that he was dead, ''there 
was an agony that speech cannot express, or pen 
portray, a mother in Israel weeping for her son, who 
was not, and refused to be comforted. The boy who 
had been her hope and pride, the idol of her heart, 
was dead. With tearful eyes, she said: To-morrow 
I will be eighty years old, but I will not see the 
beginning of another year. James has gone, and I 
shall not be long after him'." 



63 OUR PRESIDENTS 



ANNE NEALE CLEVELAND. 

Grover Cleveland, 

Twenty-second and Twenty-fourth President of the 

United States, i885-'89— iSgy'gy. 

Grover Cleveland was brought up in a Presby- 
terian parsonage. His mother, Anne Neale, was the 
mother of nine children. His father was not exact- 
ly poor, but was far from being rich. Doubtless, 
the table was always amply provided for, the wife 
and mother was thrifty, and a good housewife, and 
knew how to practice the conservation of food. The 
father's salary ranged from $600 to $1000 a year, 
never more, but $600 in those days, meant far more, 
in purchasing power, than the same amount to-day. 
When Grover was sixteen years old, his father died, 
leaving a widow, with a large family to support. 
Grover at once had to begin to support himself. 
Mrs. Cleveland's children in that Presbyterian par- 
sonage, had learned the value of money, and had 
studied the lesson of frugality. They spent no 
money which they had earned, in luxuries, but prac- 
ticed close economy, and whatever from their slen- 
der income was not needed for their own support, 
was faithfully sent to the widowed mother in her 
country home. Wilson in his "Lives of the Presi- 
dents," states that from the time Grover Cleveland 
was admitted to the bar in 1859, he regularly con- 
tributed toward the support of his widowed mother, 
up to the time of her death which occurred in 1882. 
Grover had heard of the splendid opportunities open 
to young men in the great West, and confided to his 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 63 

mother his desire to make the venture for himself. 
His mother could give him wholesome advice, which 
she did, but no money. 

When Grover Cleveland was inaugurated Presi- 
dent of the United States, he took the oath of office 
on a little pocket Bible given to him by his mother 
when he was a boy. "Many long years before," 
says Stoddard, "when an ambitious boy went out 
from his widowed mother's home, in the village of 
Holland, going to find a way in the thronged hard- 
working world, he carried with him a little book, 
not too large to put into his pocket. It had been 
his mother's, and it was stamped with her name. It 
was the Book; and now it was held in the hand of 
Chief Justice Waite of the United States Supreme 
Court, who was to administer the oath of office to 
that boy, now raised to the Chief Magistracy of a 
great nation." Who can tell what memories were 
evoked as the President pressed to his lips that little 
book, which he had evidently many times fondly 
handled, as the link binding him in his exalted posi- 
tion, to the lonely boy, leaving home for the first 
time, bearing away a mother's blessing, and her best 
gift — the Holy Bible. That mother had passed 
away years before when Mr. Cleveland was Mayor 
of Buffalo, just prior to his receiving the nomina- 
tion for Governor of the State of New York. She 
died in the little home in Holland Patent, that had 
been presented to her, by her husband's friends, re- 
presenting his last three pastorates. Doubtless a 
mental picture of that quiet little home, with its ever 
faithful mother, came to his mind, as he kissed the 
little book that had come to him from her hand, 



64 OUR PRESIDENTS 

accompanied with a mother's blessing, and obscured 
for the moment the distinguished men and women 
who were by his side, and the vast throng of admir- 
ing countrymen that were before him. And now 
for the third time, a President-elect, links the occa- 
sion of his inauguration with a devoted mother. 
The first instance, was that of Washington, when on 
his way to New York to be inaugurated, he turned 
aside to bid a last and affectionate farewell to his 
aged mother. The second, when President Gar- 
field, after taking the oath of office, turned first to 
his mother and kissed her, and the third, when 
Grover Cleveland took the oath of office on a little 
pocket Bible given to him by his mother when a 
boy. 

Grover Cleveland paid this tribute to his father. 
"Looking back over my life, nothing seems to me 
to have in it, more both of pathos and interest, than 
the spectacle of my father, a hard-working country 
clergyman, bringing up acceptably a family of nine 
children, educating each member, so that in after 
life, none suffered any deprivation in this respect, 
and that too, upon a salary which at no time ex- 
ceeded $1000 a year. It would be impossible to 
exaggerate the strength of character thus revealed." 
He recalled with pride the cheerfulness and resigna- 
tion of the father and mother in the sacrifices they 
were called upon to make in behalf of their children, 
and of the devotion the members of the family had 
for one another. 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 65 



ELIZABETH FINDLEY IRWIN—HARRISON. 

Benjamin Harrison, 
Twenty-third President of the United States, 1889- 

1893. 

Elizabeth Irwin, the mother of Benjamin Harri- 
son, was the mistress of an ideal Christian home, as 
we shall soon see. When it became our delightful 
task to consider the character, of this gi::ed and 
sainted woman, in connection with her distinguish- 
ed son, we thought of the President's widow, Mrs. 
Mary Lord Harrison, of Indianapolis, Indiana. But 
Mrs. Harrison informed us that the President's 
mother had died before she married General Harri- 
son, and never knew her, but kindly referred to the 
President's sister, Mrs. Samuel V. Morris, of Oak- 
land, California. In reply to our letter, Mrs. Mor- 
ris sent the following letter descriptive of the home 
life of the Harrison family: 

5515 Carlton St., Oakland. Cal. 
Sept. 15, 1917. 
Wm. J. Hampton, D. D., 

My dear sir: — Your letter of the 10th came 
about the time my sister, Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, 
wrote to me regarding your wishes. I am sorry I 
cannot do full justice to the things which could be 
written of my sainted mother, but will gladly do 
what I can. I am now the only daughter living. I 
have a brother two years younger living in Kansas 
City. John and myself were small children in 1850. 



66 OUR PRESIDENTS 

when our dear mother died. I was nearly eight, and 
remember distinctly the sweet Christian character of 
our mother. Almost too young to fully realize what 
her leaving us would mean to her home and fam- 
ily. This has come to me more each year of my 
life since. We had a country home, — Point Farm, 
Hamilton Co., Ohio, twenty miles below Cincin- 
nati. We were six miles below the city of Clews, 
where we attended the Presbyterian church, my 
father serving as one of the elders. We seldom 
missed of attending the morning services. We 
generally stopped for dinner, with Grandma Harri- 
son, who lived at the Old North Bend home, up to 
the last seven years of her life, when she came to be 
a member of my father's family until her death in 
1863. 

"A very pleasant memory of my mother, was the 
evening gatherings in her room, each Sunday, to 
hear her read the Bible stories to the younger chil- 
dren. So it was, the best things of life came to 
us early thro' this devoted mother's teachings, and 
I now add, thro' our father's also, in the daily family 
prayers, and grace at the table, all having a 
wonderful influence, — I am sorry to say, greatly 
neglected in many homes nowadays. Our family 
was a large one, and several cousins were invited 
to share in the advantages of a most devoted 
christian Governess, a niece of Rev. Horace Bush- 
nell, of Cincinnati. My brothers frequently brought 
some college friends home for the vacations, so I 
have beautiful memories of parents, brothers, and 
sisters, — a source of much pleasure in my declining 
years. 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 67 

My oldest sister told me, of Ben's devotion 
to his mother, from a small boy, and that never left 
him. And as a little fellow, when strangers were 
about, Ben was always at his mother's side. It 
seems a rather strange coincidence, that our mother's 
birth, marriage, and death, should come the same 
month, and so near together, born Aug. 13th, mar- 
ried the 1 2th, and died on the 15th, 1850, aged only 
forty. Her death came only after a week's illness. 
We were most blessed in having two sisters, old 
enough to look after the family and home. My bro- 
thers were on their summer's vacation at this time. 
Ben was the thoughtful brother to look after Bro- 
ther John only six years old, and myself. I will 
never forget his tenderness to us at that sad time. 
Some have said his was a cold nature. All I can say 
to this, — they did not know him. He told me once 
he felt the light of our home had gone out in our 
dear mother's death, but in after years, he came for 
change and rest, and seemed to enjoy going about 
the old farm, with gun and rod, as he had done in 
his boyhood days. I was his little sister, and when 
he was home on his vacations, we frequently spent 
hours together. Ben, with his head in my lap, read- 
ing or dreaming, while I stroked his hair, something 
he greatly enjoyed. Some children might have con- 
sidered this a task, to me, it was a great pleasure. A 
college friend said to him one day, "Ben, you must 
have had a happy home; I, however, have no pleas- 
ant memories of my home." Needless to say, that 
same young man, spent his next summer's vacation 
with us. 

When brother finished his law course and married, 



68 OUR PRESIDENTS 

he brought his bride, to our house, where he spent 
the winter, going to Indianapolis in the Spring, and 
to housekeeping in a very modest little house. My 
father sent them a fine cow, and each fall a generous 
supply of all the good things from the farm, which 
I was told Ben was as enthusiastic over as a child 
over its Christmas stocking. I am sending a pic- 
ture of the old home of our mother If 

I can assist you in any way, let me know. 
Sincerely yours, 

Mrs. Samuel V. Morris. 

In some respects it has seemed almost too sacred 
to turn this letter over to the eyes of the public. 
With such a delicate touch, this sister has lifted the 
veil in that Harrison home, where she and Brother 
Ben were chums. What a delightful picture this 
sister has drawn of that inner circle, and what a hal- 
lowed Christian atmosphere pervaded that home. 
No one has ever doubted that the father and mother 
of Benjamin Harrison were Christians. They were 
stout defenders of that sacred institution, the Holy 
Sabbath. They regularly attended divine service. 
The father was an honored Elder in the Presbyterian 
church, always asked the blessing at the table, and 
conducted with regularity the family altar. On Sun- 
day evening, the mother, in that country home, 
would gather her little family about her, and read 
such Bible stories as would interest the children. 
These things made a deep impression on the mind 
of this little sister, for she was only eight years old 
when her mother was translated. Out of such a 
home came Benjamin Harrison, one of the Presi- 



AND THEIR MOTHERS «9 

dents of the United States. It was a home quite 
the ideal. What a delicate touch from the sister's 
pen when she tells of the grief that came to the 
home, when this good mother was taken away, and 
the tender devotion of the oldest brother, Ben, as 
he tried to make up for the loss sustained in the 
home, thro' the mother's death. And yet, writes 
this sister, ''Some have called his a cold nature." 
No wonder she adds: "they did not know him." 

The reflections of Mrs. Morris have called to our 
remembrance the beautiful poem of Elizabeth Akers 
Allen. As she has drawn aside the curtains of that 
delightful home of the Harrisons, and has eloquent- 
ly told us about the golden memories of childhood 
days, so does Elizabeth Akers Allen in her beauti- 
ful poem. No more fitting place could be found in 
this volume, than to add here, a few of those sweet 
verses: 



"Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years! 
I am so weary of toil and of tears; — 
Toil without recompence, — tears all in vain, — 
Take them, and give me my childhood again. 
I have grown weary of dust and decay, 
Weary of flinging my soul wealth away, 
Weary of sowing for others to weep. 
Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep. 

Tired of the hollow, the base, the untrue, 
Mother, oh mother, my heart calls for you. 
Many a summer the grass has grown green, 
Blossomed and faded our faces between, 



70 OUR PRESIDENTS 

Yet with strong yearning, and passionate pain- 
Long I to-night for your presence again. 
Come from the silence, so long and so deep, 
Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep. 



Come, let your brown hair just lighted with gold, 
Fall on your shoulders again as of old, 
Let it drop over my forehead to-night, 
Shading my faint eyes away from the light, 
For with its sunny-edged shadows once more, 
Happy will throng the sweet visions of yore. 
Lovingly, softly, its bright billows sweep, 
Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep." 

Mother, dear mother, the years have been long, 
Since I last listened to your lullaby song, 
Sing, then, and unto my heart it shall seem, 
Womanhood's years have been only a dream, 
Clasped to your heart in a loving embrace, 
With your light lashes, just sweeping my face, 
Never, hereafter, to wake or to weep, — 
Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep." 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 71 

NANCY ALLISON McKINLEY. 

William McKinley, 
25th President of the United States, 1897-1901. 

William McKinley, the twenty-fifth President of 
the United States, was country-born, and it is a 
remarkable historical fact, that not a single Presi- 
dent from Washington to McKinley was city-born. 
His parents, William McKinley, Sr., and Nancy Al- 
lison, were members of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. They came from a family having strong re- 
ligious convictions. Nancy Allison was of good old 
Scotch Covenanter stock. The Allisons suffered im- 
prisonment in the Lowlands of Scotland for consci- 
ence sake, and came to America in search of religious 
freedom. McKinley's parents regularly attended 
church, the mid-week prayer meeting, and the chil- 
dren were always at their place in Sunday School. 
Former President William Howard Taft has said, 
that McKinley's ''father was an active-minded, high- 
principled member of the community, not highly 
educated, but familiar with the Bible, Shakespeare 
and Dante. His mother had the elements of leader- 
ship. She, with her sister, ran the church, and did 
everything to widen its influence, and control." Wil- 
liam McKinley resembled his mother in face, man- 
ner, and mental peculiarities, and his religious inspi- 
rations were derived largely from her. He never 
forgot the prayers he learned at his mother's knee. 
His religious convictions were so strong, that the 
family thought he would enter the ministry. His 
mother said, "William is a good boy. Some day he 
may become a Bishop. Hs is always clever at talk- 



72 OUR PRESIDENTS 

ing." Indeed, had he chosen the ministry, those 
same fine qualities of leadership, which placed him 
in the front rank of statesmen, would no doubt have 
given him a place among the chief pastors of the 
church. Prof. Campbell, Principal of the Public 
Schools of Niles, Ohio, in an address delivered at the 
laying of the corner stone of the McKinley mem- 
orial, said that McKinley joined the church when 
about ten years of age, without any solicitation 
whatever from any one. 

Nancy Allison McKinley was the mother of nine 
children, four boys and five girls, and there was no 
black sheep among them. Her home is thus des- 
cribed by the Hon. John Hay, a devoted friend of 
the family. "He (William McKinley) was born into 
that way of life, which is elsewhere called the middle 
class, but which in this country is so nearly univer- 
sal as to make of other classes an almost negligible 
quantity. He was neither rich nor poor, neither 
proud nor humble; his parents were sober, God-fear- 
ing people, intelligent and upright, and without pre- 
tentions. He grew up in the company of boys like 
himself, wholesome, honest, self-respecting. They 
looked down on nobody; they even felt it impossible 
that they could be looked down upon. Their homes 
were homes of probity, piety, and patriotism/' 

William McKinley. Sr., the President's father, was 
absent from home, much of the time, on account of 
business, generally returning to spend the week-end 
with the family. The training and education of the 
children, devolved almost wholly upon the mother. 
She was a woman of strong, rugged, positive char- 
acter. Her old neighbors at Niles say of her, that she 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 7* 

was known as a peacemaker, always doing some 
kind, good act, ministering to the sick, helping the 
poor and needy, and doing other Christian work. "It 
was a humble home," to quote again from Prof. W. 
C. Campbell, "presided over by an heroic mother, 
who managed by hard work, economy and good 
sense, to make the slender income of the father meet 
the necessities of a large family. A home no doubt, 
in which each child, had his own duties to perform, 
and it may be surmised, that the house-hold tasks, 
tho' vigorously insisted upon, were never thought 
too irksome, for the children without exception, 
loved their mother devotedly." Out of that sort of 
home, came the young man, who when admitted to 
the bar, promised his mother, that he would never 
take a case, when he was convinced in his own mind 
that the would-be client was guilty; and he never 
did. His ancestors had fought in every war from 
the Revolution down, hence it was but natural, that 
he should respond, should his country need his ser- 
vices. Accordingly, when but eighteen years of 
age, he enlisted as a private soldier, in response to 
President Lincoln's first call for seventy-five thou- 
sand volunteers. For fourteen months he carried 
his gun as an ordinary soldier in the ranks. His 
military record was most gallant. He was frequent- 
ly sent on most perilous errands. His commanding 
officer, General Hayes, stated that once when he left 
his side, to perform a perilous task, he never expect- 
ed to see him alive on earth again. He participated 
in some thirty engagements, and was mustered out 
of service when less than twenty-two, with the rank 
of Major. This was the title he loved most of all, 



74 OUR PRESIDENTS 

used by his wife in speaking of him, and also by his 
mother, when she did not call him by his first name; 
and the title which clung to him throughout his life. 
It was the one title, McKinley declared, he had earn- 
ed. Between himself and General Hayes, both des- 
tined to become future Presidents, there sprang up 
a warm attachment, that lasted thru all of life. Un- 
doubtedly Maj. McKinley would have risen to a 
higher rank in the Army, had he remained there, but 
in deference to his mother's wishes, he gave up the 
life of a soldier, and began the study of the law. 
This decision, no doubt, changed the entire future 
course of his life, as it did that of Washington, when 
he gave up a seafaring life at the request of his mo- 
ther. 

No one could possibly be more devoted to his 
mother than William McKinley was to his. He has 
left behind, so far as we know, no published tribute, 
— but the world really needs none, for it is a matter 
of public knowledge. His life spoke volumes. This 
was, no doubt, the thought in the mind of his sister, 
Miss Helen McKinley, when among other things 
she wrote the author as follows: 

"William McKinley's kindly heart, went out in 
such love, and so much deep affection for his 
saintly mother, tnat incidents are unessential in 
proof of his attention to, and adoration for her." 

Nancy Allison McKinley was one of the best 
of mothers. Kind and loving, but firm on occasion, 
she brought up her son to be a sober, upright, God- 
fearing Christian man. To his pastor, Dr. C. E. 
Manchester, he frequently said, "My mother is a 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 75 

great woman," and then would quote the exact 
words of Mr. Lincoln, "All that I am I owe to my 
mother." He never grew away from her. When 
at his own home he visited her daily, and when 
absent, either wrote to her, or sent her a telegram. 
This he continued to do, during his politically active 
life, — when Governor of Ohio, when representing 
his State in Congress, at Washington, are well as 
when President of the United States. This man 
cherished his mother with a devotion that was in- 
deed sacred. One of the most familiar sights in 
his home city, was that of seeing Mr. McKinley 
escorting his mother to church, or walking down 
the aisle of the church, to the communion altar. 
This devotion has been compared to that exhibited 
by Washington toward his mother. Both mothers 
had much to do with the development of those 
sterling traits of character and honesty of purpose, 
that both exhibited. Every child is familiar with 
the story of the cherry tree attributed to Washing- 
ton when a boy. When McKinley took the oath of 
office, as President of the United States, the fond 
old mother was a proud observer, and as she saw the 
thousands of his fellow-country men, congratulating 
and applauding him, she said simply, "William has 
always been a good boy. I could always depend on 
him. He never gave me a cross word, and I do not 
believe he ever told me a lie. I am glad that he is 
President for his sake." This tribute has never been 
charged up to the account of fables and myths. His 
word was ' as good as his bond. That word once 
pledged was as dear to him as his life, and in these 
high moral qualities we see the influence of that 



76 OVR PRESIDENTS 

Scotch Covenanter blood that flowed thru the veins 
of his mother. 

At the Republican National Convention of 1888, 
that nominated Benjamin Harrison for President, 
William McKinley went pledged to vote for John 
Sherman. Some of the delegates shouted for Mc- 
Kinley, and some voted for him, but he gave the 
delegates to understand, in a stirring speech, that he 
stood pledged to vote for John Sherman, and would 
not permit his name to come before the Convention. 
His loyalty to his friend made him stronger than 
ever. In 1892, he headed the Ohio delegation which 
went pledged for Harrison. The Ohio delegates 
cast their votes for McKinley. He at once chal- 
lenged their vote. He insisted that it be changed 
for Harrison. Altho' Chairman of the Convention, 
he seemed powerless to act. The delegates broke 
out into loud cheering, and the name of McKinley 
was heard on every side. He was plainly touched, 
but would not consent to be a candidate. His pled- 
ged word to his friend, meant more to him, than to 
be nominated to the high office of President of the 
United States. In the end, President Harrison was 
re-nominated. This sacrifice and loyalty to his 
pledged word, made him still stronger, and more 
popular, and he was soon to receive his reward. The 
Republican National Convention, which was held at 
St. Louis, June 16-18, 1896, nominated William Mc- 
Kinley on the first ballot. He received three times 
as many votes as all the other candidates combined, 
and at the November election, was elected Pres- 
ident of the United States. He lost nothing by 
standing by his pledged word. He was rather the 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 77 

gainer. We believe that William McKinley would 
rather have sacrificed his opportunity to become 
President of the United States, than to have played 
false to his pledged word. 

William McKinley was one of the best loved Presi- 
dents this nation has ever had. He made friends 
easily, and possessed the rare art of making friends 
of those whom he was compelled to disappoint. 
Sincerely did he believe in a divine Providence. One 
day as he sat in the White House, in the presence 
of certain distinguished gentlemen, he tapped the 
desk with his hand, and gave expression to this sig- 
nificant statement, "No person will ever sit in this 
chair as President of the United States who denies 
the existence of God." What did he mean? Sim- 
ply this, that God would not permit such a person 
to become President of the United States, who 
denied the existence of God, and furthermore the 
people of this great nation would never consent to 
the election of such a person. Strange that such a 
noble soul should be the mark of an assassin! His 
life was shot thru with righteousness, and in his 
death he waved the palm of a victor. John Hay, 
his Secretary of State, in his eloquent funeral ora- 
tion, said, "McKinley showed us how a citizen and 
patriot should live, and how a Christian and gentle- 
man should die." No man in history has been so 
sincerely and universally mourned, — this the univer- 
sal verdict of the historian. At his funeral, Bishop 
E. G. Andrews said, "It is a beautiful thing, that to 
the end of his life he bent reverently before that 
mother whose example and teaching and prayer, had 
so fashioned his mind and all his aims. The school 



78 OUR PRESIDENTS 

came briefly, and then came to him the church, with 
its ministration and power. He accepted the truth 
which it taught. He believed in God, and in Jesus 
Christ, thru whom God was revealed. He accepted 
the divine law of the Scriptures, he based his hope 
in Jesus Christ, the appointed and only Redeemer 
of men. Such influences gave to us William Mc- 
Kinley. And what was he? A man of incorrupt- 
ible personal and political integrity. I suppose no 
one ever attempted to approach him with a bribe. 

A man of immaculate purity. No stain was 

upon his escutcheon, no syllable of suspicion that I 
ever heard was whispered against his character." 

Sixteen years after his death, Oct. 5, 191 7, there 
was dedicated at Niles, Ohio, a beautiful McKinley 
Memorial. It is erected practically on the spot 
where he was born, and within a stone's throw of the 
little white school-house he attended as a boy. Dr. 
C. E. Manchester, McKinley's pastor during his 
terms of office as President, and who officiated at 
the funeral of Mother McKinley, said: "Sixteen years 
after McKinley had finished his earthly course, we 
gather here at the place of his birth, and reflect that 
no after death discoveries have cast a shadow upon 
the white light that played upon him then." How fit- 
ting that this statement be placed alongside the trib- 
ute paid to William McKinley by Bishop Andrews. 

The statue of William McKinley, which stands at 
the entrance to the McKinley Memorial, was un- 
veiled by Miss Helen McKinley, the President's sis- 
ter. As the band softly played the President's fav- 
orite hymn, "Lead, Kindly Light," Miss McKinley 
"with emotional tenderness and justifiable pride, 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 79 

drew the cord which in turn revealed to the thou- 
sands present the immortal likeness of one of the 
nation's greatest statesmen, her brother, William 
McKinley." Almost akin to a benediction come the 
words of Bishop Fowler, "A son, loving and 
thoughtful, and obedient, he secured the blessings 
of a happy mother, and the blessings of Almighty 
God. History will never forget the name of Corne- 
lia, mother of the Gracchi; nor of Aurelia, mother of 
Caesar; nor of Atia, mother of Augustus; nor of 
Mary, mother of Washington; nor of Nancy Hanks, 
mother of Lincoln; nor of Nancy, mother of McKin- 
ley." 



SO OUR PRESIDENTS 

MARTHA BULLOCK ROOSEVELT. 

Theodore Roosevelt, 
Twenty-sixth President of the United States, 1901- 

1909. 
Theodore Roosevelt was born to a life of ease and 
luxury. If ever one was born with a gold spoon in 
his mouth, it was he. Reared in an elegant home, 
and the graduate of a famous University — in fact 
the first President to be graduated from Harvard, 
since John Quincy Adams. In his note-book, the 
family physician wrote: "Theodore Roosevelt, a 
bright, precocious boy, aged twelve, he ought to 
make his mark, but for the fact that he has a rich 
father." Yet this man thro' choice, has become one of 
the most prodigious workers America has produced, 
and has long been a preacher of the strenuous life, 
and the foremost advocate of the Big Stick. He was 
the first city-born boy to reach the Presidency, all 
his predecessors having been village or country 
born. Mr. Roosevelt is a bundle of energy. He is 
the Republic's finest type of an efficient American 
citizen. In his early childhood of delicate frame, he 
has transformed that frame into a sinewy, athletic 
type, capable of enduring the most terrific strain. 
Julian Ralph once asked him, "What did you expect 
to be, or dream of being when you were a boy?" 
Mr. Roosevelt answered, "I do not recollect that 
I dreamed at all, or planned at all. I simply obeyed 
the injunction, 'whatever thy hand findeth to do, do 
that with all thy might,' and so I took up whatever 
came along, as it came, since then I have gone on 
Lincoln's motto, 'Do the best — if not the best pos- 
sible.' " 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 81 

The President's mother, Martha Bullock, was a 
Southerner, and her sympathies always inclined 
toward the South. Her brother was Captain James 
Bullock; he was at the head of the Secessionist Navy 
during the Rebellion, and fitted out the Alabama, 
and the Shenandoah from England. But the North 
has never had a more stalwart defender than Theo- 
dore Roosevelt. 

Theodore Roosevelt is still living, exercising a 
potent influence for good in American channels. In 
his Autobiography, published in 191 3, he paints this 
word picture of his mother. "My mother, Martha 
Bullock, was a sweet, gracious, beautiful Southern 
woman, a delightful companion, and beloved by 
everybody. She was entirely unreconstructed to 
the day of her death. Her mother, my grand- 
mother, one of the dearest old ladies, lived with us, 
and was distinctly over-indulgent to us children, be- 
ing quite unable to harden her heart toward us, even 
when occasion demanded it. Toward the close of 
the Civil War, altho' a very small boy, I grew to 
have a partial but alert understanding of the fact 
that the family were not one in their views about the 
conflict, my father being a strong Lincoln Repub- 
lican; and once when I felt that I had been wronged 
by maternal discipline during the day, I attempted 
a practical vengeance by praying with loud fervor 
for the success of the Union arms, when we all came 
to say our prayers before my mother in the evening. 
She was not only a most devoted mother; but was 
also blessed with a strong sense of humor, and she 
was too much amused to punish me. But I was 
warned not to repeat the offense, under the penalty 



82 OUR PRESIDENTS 

of my father being informed, — he being the dis- 
pencer of serious punishment." 

The father of Theodore Roosevelt, according to 
the President's Autobiography, had family prayers 
every morning, and every morning the three children 
would sit with their father on the sofa, while he con- 
ducted worship, two on one side, and one on the 
other. The coveted place was the "cubby hole," 
which was the space between the father and the arm 
of the sofa. 

This was the ex-President who was asked by the 
New York Bible Society, to write a message that 
might be printed in the special copies of New Testa- 
ments designed for soldiers and sailors. Coming 
from such a home, that was consecrated with prayer 
and Bible study, we are not surprised that this dis- 
tinguished man should have forwarded the follow- 
ing: — "The teachings of the New Testament are 
foreshadowed in Micah's verse, 'what more doth the 
Lord require of thee, than to do justice and to love 
mercy, and walk humbly with thy God?" 

Do justice; and therefore fight valiantly against 
the armies of Germany and Turkey, for these nations 
in this crisis stand for the reign of Moloch and Beel- 
zebub on this earth. 

Love mercy; treat prisoners well; succor the 
wounded: treat every woman as if she were your sis- 
ter; care for little children, and be tender with the 
old and helpless. 

Walk humbly; you will do so, if you study the life 
and teachings of the Saviour. 

May the God of justice and mercy have you in his 
keeping. Theodore Roosevelt. 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 83 

In the great world war now in progress, Mr. 
Roosevelt has four sons fighting under the Stars and 
Stripes. He is making the supreme sacrifice. The 
Southern patriotism of the Bullocks, and the North- 
ern patriotism of the Roosevelts, have combined in 
producing a gallant soldier and officer of the Span- 
ish American war, a statesman of a high order, and 
President of the United States, one who has been 
an ardent exponent of the principles of pure Ameri- 
canism. 



84 OUR PRESIDENTS 

LOUISE M. TORREY TAFT. 

William Howard Taft, 

Twenty-seventh President of the United States, 

1 909-1913. 

A biographer of Wm. Howard Taft writes, "Like 
father — like son." It would be difficult to con- 
ceive how it could be more strikingly true than in 
the case of Mr. Taft, and his father, Alphonso Taft. 
The father earned the money to meet his college 
expenses by teaching school. This same persis- 
tency of the father to thus fight his way thro' school, 
in the face of difficulties, we see exhibited in the al- 
most bulldog persistency of the son, in all his years 
of noble service. Whatever he began he finished. 
Alphonso Taft became a distinguished lawyer, so 
did the son. He became a prominent Judge, so did 
the son. He became a member of General Grant's 
cabinet, serving as Secretary of War, and later as 
Attorney General, the son served in the Cabinet of 
Theodore Roosevelt. The father later served his 
country as Minister to Austria and Russia, and the 
distinguished son served as Governor of the Philip- 
pines, and later was exalted to the high office of 
President of the United States. 

But while Wm. Howard Taft has reproduced 
many of the high qualities of his father he is also 
greatly indebted to the mother. In a brief note to 
the author, Mr. Taft states that it is his purpose to 
write a book of Reminiscences in which he proposes 
to describe the character of his mother. His 
mother, Louise M. Torrey, was of Puritan stock, 
but with broad views of life, and lofty ideals. There 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 85 

was a decided absence of narrow mindedness, such 
as characterized the earlier Puritan stock. Her 
views were broad and liberal. Wm. Howard Taft 
inherited the broad, liberal views of his mother. 
President Hayes was affected by the strict Puritan 
notions of his mother, and these notions had much 
to do in his thinking throughout his entire life. In 
like manner, Mr. Taft has been influenced by the 
more liberal views of his mother. Owing to her 
dignity, quiet self-respect, and independence of 
character, Mr. Taft's mother was always an element 
to be reckoned with in any community wherever 
her lot was cast. She lived to be eighty years old. 
Throughout her long life, she had always been inter- 
ested in the welfare and success of her son. His suc- 
cess in public life, was especially a source of joy and 
delight. He visited his mother as frequently as 
possible, and never neglected her thro' failure to 
correspond with her, and their correspondence was 
always of a confidential nature. Frequently they 
spoke together of the onerous tasks that fell to him 
to perform. She was particularly interested in his 
work in the Philippines, and approved of his entire 
course of action, in dealing with them, and never 
doubted his ability to win over the suspicions inha- 
bitants of the far distant islands. 

The time had arrived for the Filipinos to open 
their first Assembly. Mr. Taft had promised this 
people that he would go to Manilla, and make the 
formal opening. He was the man who had given 
it to them, and now their ideals were to be realized. 
But as the time approached, his mother's health 
began rapidly to fail, he feared, should he go, she 



86 OUR PRESIDENTS 

would not survive his return. He wanted to post- 
pone his journey, believing he could explain satis- 
factorily his absence to the Filipinos, but his mother 
would not consent. She told him, his first duty 
now, was to the people whom he had befriended, 
and not to her. Her desire to have him go, we are 
told, had almost the force of a command. He re- 
luctantly obeyed. Mr. Taft was becoming more and 
more the popular candidate for President, by the 
Republican party. During his absence abroad a lull 
might occur in regard to his popularity as a candi- 
date. Some have thought that this was the reason 
his mother was so insistent on his making the jour- 
ney to the Philippines at once, and not postpone it, 
because should he go later, it would bring his ab- 
sence from the country, nearer the time of the 
gathering of the leaders of the Republican Party, 
when a nomination for President would be made, 
and his interests accordingly jeopardized, and that 
therefore she was influenced wholly by selfish reasons 
in being desirous of having him go at once. We 
have inclined to the view, however, that while his 
mother was greatly interested in the ever-increasing 
interest that the American people had taken in the 
candidacy of her son for President, it evidently 
seemed to her that his promise to the Filipinos 
should come first, even tho' his absence from the 
country might flag the interest of the people. Mr. 
Taft made the journey as quickly as possible, but 
his mother passed away while he was enroute from 
Hamburg to New York. Mr. Taft's farewell to his 
mother, was similar to that of George Washington, 
when he turned aside to bid his mother a last fare- 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 87 

well, while on his way to be inaugurated President 
of the United States, and felt that he would see 
her face no more. Both left their mother's presence, 
going forth to perform the high and important 
duties that had been imposed upon them by the 
State. It was to be a last and sad farewell. 



88 OUR PRESIDENTS 

JANET WOODROW WILSON. 

Woodrow Wilson, 

Twenty-eighth President of the United States, 191 3 

and Serving Second Term in Office. 

Woodrow Wilson, as an educator, was a star of 
the first magnitude, in the scholastic world. He re- 
flected credit, not only upon himself, but also upon 
the various in ons he served, in the capacity of 

Professor, and University President. Would this 
man of academic training, "a son of clergymen and 
editors" make a good public official? There were 
many, who said that this man, who had had no prac- 
tical experience in politics, would be too theoretical. 
But everybody today knows that he made one of 
the best Governors New Jersey has ever had, and 
also one of our greatest Presidents. Easily, the 
historian will place him alongside Washington, Jef- 
ferson and Lincoln. 

Woodrow Wilson, altho' he made his debut sud- 
denly into the political arena, is no political pro- 
digy. His many years of training have prepared 
him to handle with rare skill, and in a practical way 
the problems of statesmanship. Mr. Wilson, him- 
self, has said: "How did I happen to enter political 
life ? Why I suppose I was born a political animal. 
Always from the first recollections of my youth up, 
I have aimed at political life. The reason why I 
studied law was, I suppose, because in the South, 
when I was a boy, the law furnished the shortest 
path to political life. I gave it up, because I found, 
I could not be an honest lawyer, and politician, — at 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 89 

least, I didn't know how then to do it I took 

a new start, went back to school, where I tried to 
learn something about the facts of government. 
From the start, my interest has been in things as 
they are, rather than in a theoretical knowledge of 
them I was always a practical politician." 

So instead of being a mere theorist, in the polit- 
ical world, according to his own words, he has al- 
ways been a practical politician. This accounts for 
the astuteness and diplomacy with which he has 
handled some of the most delicate problems, that 
it has ever been the lot of a President of this Re- 
public to solve. He has proved himself to be a 
Past Master in the art of Statesmanship. In pass- 
ing from Andrew Johnson to Woodrow Wilson, we 
study two absolute extremes. Johnson's mind was 
wholly untrained by the schools, never attending a 
public school a day in his life. Wilson's mind, on 
the other hand, was trained by the Masters of our 
great Universities. This mental training has stood 
him well in hand, in these days of tremendous crises, 
which have confronted him, with ever increasing fre- 
quency. When praised, he has never lost his head, 
when maligned, exhibiting at all times, an unruffled 
spirit. 

Woodrow Wilson's father, Rev. Joseph Ruggles 
Wilson, D. D., was a prominent Presbyterian clergy- 
man of the South. His father was popular as a 
pastor, but more distinguished as a theological 
Professor, in fact it would seen as tho' he was one 
of the most prominent leaders of the Presbyterian 
Church, South. The President's mother's name was 
Janet Woodrow. She came from a Presbyterian par- 



90 OUR PRESIDENTS 

sonage, Rev. Thomas Woodrow, D. D., a Presbyte- 
rian minister occupying many prominent pulpits of 
the South. In such a cultured home, in 1856, 
Woodrow Wilson was born. 

Among educated people of the South, the 
custom obtained of having someone read aloud in 
the evening, after the day's work was done, and the 
family had come together. Sometimes the father 
would read, and sometimes the mother. The 
atmosphere of the University was continually in that 
home, and when we combine a finely trained mind, 
with hearts devout toward God, we have a result 
bordering on the ideal. From such a home came 
President Wilson, inheriting from both father and 
mother, rare intellectual gifts, and trained by devout 
parents, to a firm belief in the doctrines of our holy 
religion. The President's mother died in 1888. 

This heavily burdened President, with a world 
war on his hands, with delicate diplomatic problems 
constantly to solve, as commander-in-chief of our 
national forces, at the head of an Army and Navy 
of a million men, trying to untangle difficulties af- 
fecting questions of food, and fuel, and munitions, 
and with a hundred million people looking to him as 
their national leader, this burdened man drops mo- 
mentarily all these burdens, draws aside the cur- 
tains of the past, and with the touch of an artist, 
presents to us a lovely pen picture of the sainted 
mother who went to heaven years before national 
honors came to her distinguished son. 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 91 

U. S. S. MAYFLOWER 

15 September, 1917. 

THE WHITE HOUSE, Washington 
Rev. William J. Hampton, D. D., 

Butler, N. J. 
My dear Sir: — 

I am sure that you will not have misunderstood 
my long delay in replying to your letter of the 
twenty-third of July last. It has been due to an 
extraordinary pressure of public business not only, 
but also to a feeling that I really did not know how 
to write an adequate answer. It is very hard for 
me to speak of what my mother was without colour- 
ing the whole estimate with the deep love that fills 
my heart whenever I think of her; but while others 
cannot have seen her as I did, I am sure that every- 
one who knew her at all, must have felt also the 
charm of her unusual grace and refinement, and 
have been aware of the clear-eyed, perceiving mind 
that lay behind her frank grey eyes. They were 
not always grey. They were of that strange, change- 
able colour, which so often goes with strong char- 
acter and varied ability. She was one of the most 
remarkable persons I have ever known. She was 
so reserved, that only those of her own household 
can have known how lovable she was, tho' every 
friend knew how loyal and steadfast she was. I 
seem to feel still, the touch of her hand, and the 
sweet steadying influence of her wonderful character. 
I thank God to have had such a mother! 
Very sincerely yours, 

WOODROW WILSON. 



92 OUR PRESIDENTS 

President Wilson has been accused of having a 
nature rather cold, and the same has been said of 
President Harrison; but who can truthfully say this 
after reading this beautiful tribute he has paid his 
mother? History will place this tribute alongside 
that of John Quincy Adams and James Buchanan. 
He has also been accused of being ungenerous toward 
those who have befriended him in a political way. 
May it not be true, that certain ones who thus be- 
friended him, did so because they had an axe to 
grind, and President Wilson's well-trained mind, dis- 
covered that the kind of government they favored 
was not that kind which was shot thro' with right- 
eousness? In his superb strength, he rises above his 
critics, leaves them to themselves, and looms before 
us, a colossal world figure, in strength and true 
greatness. 

Some of his messages to the people will live for- 
ever. His address delivered personally at the joint 
session of Congress, April 2, 1917, contains state- 
ments that have already become famous. Pulpit 
and press have stamped his words, "The world must 
be made safe for democracy" indelibly, not simply 
upon the hearts of the American people, but upon 
the hearts of all liberty loving people the world over. 
Along with Lincoln's immortal Gettysburg address, 
will go this remarkable message. From it, we 
quote in closing this section: 

"To such a task we can dedicate our lives and 
our fortunes, everything that we are, and every- 
thing that we have, with the pride of those who 
know that the day has come when America is 



AND THEIR MOTHERS 93 

privileged to spend her blood and her might for 
the principles that gave her birth and happiness, 
and the peace which she has treasured. God help 
her, she can do no other!" 

The study of "Our Presidents and Their Mothers" 
has led us to see the tremendous influence mothers 
have had in preparing sons for the Presidential chair. 
These Mothers were women of high moral charac- 
ter, of Christian graces, and richly endowed intellec- 
tually. We are not sure whether any mother was 
a college graduate, it is safe to say, none were, with 
the possibility of recent rare exceptions. Educa- 
tional advantages for the young woman were un- 
known in the early history of our country. The 
Puritans of New England for a century and a half did 
not permit girls to attend school, except at such 
seasons of the year when the schoolroom would not 
be needed by the boys. To-day everything has 
changed. Schools, colleges and universities are all 
open for women to enjoy the advantages of a liberal 
education on the same basis as the men. Seventy 
years ago about the only avenues of employment, 
open to young women, were dress-making, and 
school-teaching. To-day women are welcomed in 
all the marts of trade, and in practically all the profes- 
sions. The right to vote is being granted to the 
women of our country so rapidly, that to mention 
the number of states granting equal franchise would 
endanger our being behind the times, by the time the 
printed page reached the eye of the reader. If these 
mothers had lived in this day, styled by some the 
day of the "New woman", would so many have been 



94 OUR PRESIDENTS 

passed by in silence? We cannot believe it true. 
The woman of to-morrow, historically will have her 
place alongside that of man. Her voice will be 
heard, not simply in the domestic circle, but in the 
affairs of state, in the great world reforms, in the 
world of politics, in public office, and in legislative 
assemblies. She will not shine with a reflected 
glory, but with a glory all her own. 

It is honor almost sufficient to be the mother of 
a son who became President of the United States. 
Such a mother might be willing to shine ever with 
a reflected glory. We are told that "the hand that 
rocks the cradle rules the world." That will not be 
less true to-morrow because of changed conditions 
as affecting woman, but if possible more true. How 
true it seems when we apply it to those who cradled 
and trained those who became the Rulers of our Re- 
public! It has been a noble line of Mothers, from 
Mary Ball, mother of George Washington, to Janet 
Woodrow, mother of Woodrow Wilson. Napoleon 
one time said, "What France needs is mothers." 
But mothers have been the glory and pride of our 
fair land, and none have been more worthy the praise 
of men, than the Mothers of our Presidents. Mothers 
— who were great because good, and good because 
God-like! 



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